with best wishes 


from 


RENAISSANCE STUDENT LIFE 


THE PAEDOLOGIA 
OF 
PETRUS MOSELLANUS 


RENAISSANCE STUDENT LIFE 


THE PAEDOLOGIA 
OF 
PETRUS MOSELLANUS 


TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN 
BY 
Rospert Francis SEYBOLT 


Professor of Education 
University of Illinots 


University oF Inziinors Press 
1927 


COPYRIGHT, 1927 
BY THE 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


PREFACE 


The colloquies of Petrus Mosellanus, first 
published in 1518, under the title Paedologia, 
were of ancient and honorable lineage. As a 
method of instruction, the dialogue had been 
popular with schoolmasters from an early day. 
Student-texts in the form of colloquia scholas- 
tica found their place in the schools of Greece 
and Rome,? and the genre was continued in 


the Middle Ages.’ 


1Paedologia Petri Mosellani Protegensis, in puerorum usum 
conscripta. Hieronymus. Non sunt conténenda quasi parua, 
Sine quibus magna céstare no possunt. Leipzig, 1518. Edited b 
Michel, H. Petrus Mosellanus, Paedologia. Berlin, 1906. 
(Lateinische Litteratur-denkmaler des XV und XVI. Fahrhun- 
derts, No. 18.) 

2Goetz, G., editor. Dositheus Magister. Colloquium scholi- 
cum Harletanum. Jena, 1892; Ibid. Hermeneumata Pseudo- 
dositheana, in Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum, III (Leipzig, 1882), 
pp. 637-59; Hirzel, R. Der Dialog. Ein literarhistorischer 
Versuch. Leipzig, 1895. 2 vols; Jahn, O. Griechische Bilder- 
chroniken (Bonn, 1873), pp. 97-98; Krumbacher, K. Geschichte 
der Byzantinischen Litteratur vom Fustinian bis zum Ende des 
ostrémischen Reiches, in Handbuch der klassischen Altertums- 
Wissenschaft, 1X, i (Munich, 1897), pp. 561-62. 

8Well known examples are those of Alcuin (8th century), 
Pippini regalis et nobilissimi juvenis disputatio (Migne, J. P. 
Patrologiae cursus completus, Cl, pp. 975-979); and Aelfric 
(roth century), Colloquium ad pueros linguae locutione exercendos, 
ab Aelfrico primum compilatum, et deinde, ab Aelfrico Bata, ejus 
discipulo, auctum, in Thorpe, B., editor. Analecta Anglo-Saxontica 
(London, 1868), pp. 18-36. Translated in Gem, S. H. An Anglo- 
Saxon Abbot, Aelfric of Eynsham (Edinburgh, 1912), pp. 183-195. 
See also Specht, F. A. Geschichte des Unterrichtswesens in 
Deutschiand (Stuttgart, 1885), p. 85. 


Vil 


Vill Renaissance Student Life 


There were many texts illustrative of the 
question and answer method, but mere lists of 
questions and responses were not usually en- 
titled colloguia or dialogi. In the definitive 
sense accepted by the later Middle Ages, and 
regarded as traditional during the late fif- 
teenth and early sixteenth centuries, these 
terms referred to manuals in the form of con- 
versation between master and student, or be- 
tween two students. This adaptation of a 
time-honored modus discendi appeared in two 
kinds of colloquia ad usum puerorum. One 
was composed merely for the purpose of giv- 
ing instruction in the subject matter discussed 
by the dramatis personae, the other was de- 
signed not only to present information of va- 
rious sorts, but also to aid students in the 
mastery of colloquial Latin. In his letter of 
dedication, Mosellanus indicates that the 
latter was his purpose in writing the Paedolo- 
gid. 

To students, teachers, and educated men 
everywhere in western Europe, during the 
Middle Ages, Latin was a live language. This 
was still true throughout the Renaissance, in 
spite of the rapid development of vernacular 
literatures. Within the school and without, 
it was the language of learning. It was the 
sine qua non of the erudite and general reader 
alike. As a matter of course, educated people 


Preface 1X 


spoke Latin, certainly a necessity in gather- 
ings of mixed nationalities. For fluent collo- 
quial use the mastery of a strange, and some- 
what difficult idiom was required. Naturally, 
the task of inculcating this ability fell upon 
the schoolmaster, and so seriously and strictly 
did he prosecute it that in grammar schools 
as well as in universities the students were 
obliged to speak Latin at all times, even when 
at play. To insure this, spies (/upi) were 
appointed to report those who spoke their 
mother-tongue; and penalties were imposed 
upon the vu/garisantes. 

The medieval schoolboy began his study 
of Latin by learning the letters and the tradi- 
tional syllables. His first text was usually 
the 4rs minor of Donatus, or some primer 
based on that venerable grammar.* Then 
followed vocabularies, collections of aphor- 
isms like the Disticha Catonis,® and a more ad- 
vanced grammar such as the Doctrinale of 


*Donati de partibus orationis ars minor in Keil, G. T. H., 
editor. Grammatici latini (Leipzig, 1855-80. 7 vols.), IV, 
pp. 355-66. Translated into English by Chase, W. J. The Ars 
Minor of Donatus. Madison, Wis., 1926 (Univ. of Wis. Studies 
in the Social Sciences and History, No. 11.) 

5Bachrens, P. H. E., editor. Poetae Latini minores (Leipzig, 
1879-86. 6 vols. in 3), III, pp. 205-42. Translated into Dutch, 
English, French, German and Greek in Dionysii Catonis Disticha 
de Moribus ad Filium (Amsterdam, 1759. Anonymus.); trans- 
lated into English by Chase, W. J. The Distichs of Cato. Madi- 
son, Wis., 1922. (Univ. of Wis. Studies in the Social Sciences 
and History, No. 7.) 


x Renaissance Student Life 


Alexander de Villa Dei. The Doctrinale, com- 
posed in the thirteenth century, was one of 
the prescribed texts at many universities dur- 
ing the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.® 
But these manuals were uninteresting, and 
their subject matter was somewhat remote 
from that of everyday conversation. As a 
result, a colloquial language developed in the 
schools quite different from that of the texts, 
a barbarous tongue characterized by incor- 
rect syntax and sordida verba. In fact, many 
of the books used in the various fields of study 
would hardly have been intelligible to a Cice- 
ronian, so far had they departed from the clas- 
sical Roman vocabulary and style. 

These defects were recognized by the 
scholars of the Renaissance, and many at- 
tacks were made on the Latinity and docta 
ignorantia of the old school. As they viewed 
it, the remedy lay in the restoration of classi- 
cal Latin, an indispensable condition to the 
establishment of the New Learning. They 
saw, too, that if the battle were to be waged 
successfully, preparation for it must be made 
early in youth. The schools and universities 


®Baebler, J. J. Beitrage zu einer Geschichte der lateinischen 
Grammatik im Mittelalter (Halle, 1885), pp. 116-34; Neudecker, 
C. G. Das Doktrinale des Alexander de Villa Dei und der lateini- 
sche Unterricht wahrend des Mittelalters in Deutschland. Pirna, 
1885; Reichling, D. Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa Dei. 
Berlin, 1893. (Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica, XII.) 


Preface x1 


must play their part. A very evident need 
of the period was a new elementary Latin text, 
one containing the ordinary matter of conversa- 
tion, yet written in the style of Cicero or 
Terence. Strange as it may seem, some of 
the leading humanists of the day gave time 
and energy to the composition of colloquies 
embodying these new ideas.’ Through the 
efforts of Mosellanus, Erasmus, Vives, Cas- 
tellion, and others, the colloquy or school- 
dialogue became an important weapon in the 
struggle of the New Learning against the old.® 

In a general sense, the sixteenth was the 
greatest century of the Renaissance. It was 
also the great century of the school-dialogue. 
By 1564, the following had made their appear- 
ance: Andreas Huendern, Latinum idioma 
(1501); Laurentius Corvinus, Latinum idioma 
(1503); Collocutiones duorum puerorum de 
rebus puerilibus ad invicem loquentium (shortly 
after 1500, according to Bomer); Petrus Mosel- 


7Bomer, A. Die lateinischen Schilergesprache der Humantsten 
(Berlin, 1897-99. 2 parts.), I, p. §: ““Bent as the humanists were 
on making the Latin language the vehicle, not only for learning 
and learned purposes, but for all the ordinary intercourse of 
everyday life, in every department, they chose as themes for 
their school-dialogues any and every thing about which the 
pupils might have occasion to talk, not merely confining them- 
selves to the wide sphere of school life, but utilising all the cir- 
cumstances of daily life which were likely to interest the juvenile 
mind.”’ 

8See Buisson, F. Sébastien Castellion, sa vie et son oeuvre, 


1515-1563 (Paris, 1892. 2 vols.), I, pp. 154-57. 


X11 Renaissance Student Life 


lanus, Paedologia (1518); Desiderius Erasmus, 
Familiarum colloqguiorum formulae (1519); 
Christophorus Hegendorffinus, Dialogi pueri- 
Jes (1520); Hadrianus Barlandus, Dialogi ad 
profligandam e scholis barbariem utilissimi 
(1524); Hermannus Schottenius, Confabula- 
tiones tironum litterariorum (1525); Sebaldus 
Heyden, Formulae puerilium colloguiorum 
(1528); Jonas Philologus, Dialogi (1529); 
Jacobus Zovitius, Colloquia (date unknown); 
Juan Luis Vives, Linguae Latinae exercitatio 
(1539); Sebastien Castellion, Dialogi sacri 
(1543); Nicolaus Winmannus, Dialogi (1544); 
Martinus Duncanus, Praetextata latine 
loquendi ratio (1552); Mathurinus Corderius, 
Colloquia scholastica (1564). The continued 
popularity of texts of this type is seen in the 
publication of over one hundred editions each 
of the colloguia of Erasmus, Vives, and Cor- 
derius, which appeared as late as the middle 
of the nineteenth century. The Paedologia 
went through sixty-four editions between 1518 
and 1706. 


*With the exception of Castellion the list is taken from 
Bomer, op. cit. See also Massebieau, L. Les colloques scolaires 
du seiziéme siécle, et les auteurs, 1480-1570. Paris, 1878; Réper- 
toire des ouvrages pédagogiques du XVI¢ siécle. Paris, 1886; and 
Zappert, G. Uber ein fiir den Fugendunterricht Kaiser Maxi- 
milian’s I. abgefasstes lateinisches Gesprachbichlein, in Sitzungs- 
berichte der Phil.—Hist. Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der 
Wissenschaften (Vienna, 1858), XXVIII, pp. 193-280. 


Preface X11 


The forerunner of the new colloquy of the 
Renaissance was the Manuale scholarium, which 
appeared in a printed edition in 1481." This 
popular work was written to serve as a text 
in conversational Latin, and as a guide-book 
for freshmen at Leipzig. It supplied the 
student, at the beginning of his career, with 
much information concerning the more im- 
portant features of life in the university. The 
Manuale succeeded in reproducing the actual 
subject matter of student conversation, but 
its Latin was quite corrupt.'! Furthermore, 
its spirit and content were wholly medieval. 
The sources indicate that it had a wide circu- 
lation. Within a few years of its publication, 
it was copied almost verbatim by Paulus 
- Niavis in his Latina idiomata. 


10Seybolt, R. F., translator. The Manuale Scholarium. 
Cambridge, Mass., 1921. The Manuale scholarium went through 
seven editions before 1 500. 

UZarncke, F. Die deutschen Universitaten im Mittelalter 
(Leipzig, 1857), p. 226: “His [the author’s}] Latin betrays not 
the slightest influence of the works of Cicero; indeed, it is often 
so incorrect that it can hardly be excused even for the fifteenth 
century.” 

2The Latina idiomata appeared in twenty-two editions by 
1505. See Fabricius, W. Die dltesten gedruckten Quellen zur 
Geschichte des deutschen Studententums, in Zeitschrift fiir Bicher- 
freunde, Jg. 1 (Leipzig, 1897-98), i, pp. 177-182; Wolkan, R. 
Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur in Boehmen (Prague, 1894), 
pp. 159-65. 


X1V Renatssance Student Life 


The first important modern colloquies 
were those of Mosellanus.'* Shortly after 
their appearance, the Manuale scholarium and 
the Latina idiomata went out of use. Neither 
of these could serve as a model of the Latin 
which the schools wished to encourage. The 
Paedologia borrowed its style from the best 
writers of classical Latin, and its content was 
up-to-date. Many school statutes give evi- 
dence of its popularity in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 

Petrus Mosellanus (Peter Schade), the 
author of the Paedologia, was born in 1493 or 
1494 in the little town of Bruttig, near Cob- 
lenz, on the Moselle.® Little is known of his 


BBuisson, F. Nouveau Dictionnaire de Pédagogie (Paris, 
IQII), p. 1365: ““Mosellanus... was... the first of the Ren- 
aissance schoolmasters to publish dialogues for the purpose of 
aiding students in the mastery of conversational Latin.” 

“Michel, op. cit., xxxvili; Dadelson, H. von. Die Padagogik 
Melanchthons (Strassburg, 1878), p. 54; Hartfelder, K. Philipp 
Melanchthon als Praeceptor Germaniae. Berlin, 1889. (Mon. 
Germ. Paed., V11) pp. 421, 426, 497; Koldewey, F. Braunschweig- 
ische Schulordnungen von den Gltesten Zeiten bis zum Fahre 1828. 
Berlin, 1886-90. 2 vols. (Mon. Germ. Paed., I, and VIII), I, 
pp. $7, 107; II, p. 14; Schmidt, K. Geschichte der Padagogtk 
(K6then, 1873-76. 4 vols. in 3.), III, pp. 110-111: “That note- 
worthy little book, the Paedologia, was prescribed as a text in 
many school-statutes.”’ 

Schmidt, O. G. Petrus Mosellanus. Ein Beitrag zur Ge- 
schichte des Humanismus in Sachsen. Leipzig, 1867. Biographi- 
cal sketches of later date are based on Schmidt, or on Michel, 
op. cit., who made an independent study of the sources. See also 


Preface XV 


boyhood, except that it was marked by va- 
rious privations. After a period of study in 
Trier, where he may have attended the uni- 
versity, he matriculated at the University of 
Cologne, January 2, 1512, and took the bacca- 
laureate examination there November 25 of 
the same year. Except for a few brief jour- 
neys, he remained in Cologne for about two 
years, studying and teaching. Here he came 
in contact with the humanist Hermann von 
dem Busche, and studied Greek with Johan- 
nes Caesarius. For a few months, during the 
year 1515, he taught in Freiberg, Saxony. In 
the summer of 1515 he matriculated at the 
University of Leipzig. This was the turning 
point of his career. Encouraged by Richard 
Croke, he continued his study of Greek, and 
when Croke returned to England in 1517, 
Mosellanus succeeded him as professor of 


Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXII, pp. 358-59; Bursian, C. 
Geschichte der classischen Philologie in Deutschland von den An- 
fangen bis zur Gegenwart (Minich, 1883. 2 vols.), I, pp. 184-85; 
Krafft, K., and W. Briefe und Documente aus der Zeit der Re- 
formation tm 16. Fahrhunderte, nebst Mitteilungen iiber Kélnische 
Gelehrte und Studien im 13. und 16. Fahrhunderte (Elberfeld, 
1876), pp. 118ff; Paulsen, F. Geschichte des gelehrten Unter- 
richts auf den deutschen Schulen und Universitaten vom Ausgang 
des Mittelalters bis zur Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1885), pp. 10, 35, 61, 
64-65, 69, 73, 77, 79, 80, 103, 121, 124-25. 


XVI Renaissance Student Life 


Greek at Leipzig.'® His scholarly activities 
and his lectures on the language and litera- 
ture of Greece attracted the attention of 
humanists throughout western Europe.” Eras- 
mus, Melanchthon, and many others were 
generous in their praise of his scholarship. 
Mosellanus was elected Rector of the univer- 
sity for the summer terms of 1520 and 1523. 
His untimely death in 1524 terminated a life 
that promised unusual achievement.*® With- 


Richard Croke was chosen, in 1515, as the first professor 
of Greek at Leipzig. Upon his acceptance of the professorship 
of Greek at Cambridge, Erasmus wrote as follows (Apr. 23, 1518): 
“I congratulate you, my Croke, on that splendid professorship.” 
Nichols, F. M., translator. The Epistles of Erasmus (London, 
1901-18, 2 vols.), III, 355. See Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 
IV, pp. 602-604; Bursian, op. cit., p. 183; Paulsen, op. cit., 
PP. 43-44, 61, 63-65, 82; and the Paedologia, Dialogue V, n. 4. 

17Paulsen, op. cit., p. 124. Mosellanus’ various works are 
listed in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXII, pp. 358-59; 
Bursian, op. cit., p. 184, n. 1; Répertoire des ouvrages pédagogiques 
du XVIe siécle, op. cit., pp. 456-59; Schmidt, K., op. cit., pp. 
8sff. It should be noted that Mosellanus taught Latin also. 

e appears in the “List of Rectors of the University of Leipzig, 
1409-1559” as “Petrus Mosellanus bonarum litterarum in utraque 
lingua professor.’ Zarncke, F. Die urkundlichen Quellen zur 
Geschichte der Universitat Leipzig in den ersten 150 Fahren ihres 
Bestehens (Leipzig, 1857), pp. 595-96. 

18 Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXII, p. 359: ““Melanch- 
thon was present at his death; deeply grieved, he wrote: ‘His 
death is a serious loss to learning, for his gifts were quite extraor- 
dinary.’”’ See also Hartfelder, op. cit., p. 141, for a post mortem 
note by Camerarius, who accompanied Melanchthon on this 
occasion; and Paulsen, op. cit., p. 64: “When he died in the 
year 1§24, the Rector, J. Reusch, recorded the fact in the Acta 
rectorum, and added: ‘preter etatem in utraque lingua peritissimus, 


Preface XVI 


in its brief span he had taken his place with 
Erasmus, Hegius, Melanchthon, Reuchlin, 
Wimpheling, the leaders of German human- 
ism. In the Ciceronianus, published in 1528, 
Erasmus said: “I admire his scholarship, 
equal in Latin and Greek, his practical knowl- 
edge, his pure and unalloyed genius, his un- 
tiring care, his lively, figurative, and clear 
diction. Much would have been expected of 
him if he had not died in his youth ...a 
great loss to letters.’’!® 

The colloquies interest us, at this late day, 
not only as examples of the Latin used in the 
schools, and of the method of teaching it, but 
also as sources of information concerning 
school and university life during the late fif- 
teenth and early sixteenth centuries.”® As. 
several writers have remarked, they have 
become “historical documents’”’ of great value 
to those who would picture the various as- 


gymnasii nostri suprema columna.’ Also the Duke (George of 
Saxony), in a letter to Erasmus, expressed his heartfelt grief 
over the premature death of Mosellanus: ‘fuit summum Lip- 
siensis Gymnasii decus’ (Erasmi. Opp., III, 801).” 

Scott, I., translator. Erasmus, Ciceronianus (New York, 
1908), p. 102. 

20Bomer, op. cit., I, p. §: “These dialogue books, by their 
very compass and anifld variety, have become for us such 
a priceless source of information for the history of school life 
and of culture generally, that very few literary productions of 
the period can bear comparison with them.” 


XV1l Renaissance Student Life 


pects of student life at that time.?! Because 
of its lively portrayal of conditions at Heidel- 
berg, the Manuale scholarium is the most fre- 
quently cited original account of life in the 
medieval university. The Paedologia offers 
the student of today an equally vivid “de- 
scription” of the environment in which his 
Renaissance predecessor lived at Leipzig. 
““Mosellanus gives interesting details of stu- 
dent-life at Leipzig. He takes scenes from 
the ordinary life of the scholars, shows the 
nature of their religious ideas, and their 
studies.”’?? 

For the most part, the scenes in the Pae- 
dologia are laid in a grammar school, perhaps 
in St. Thomas’ at Leipzig. By means of their 
dialogues, the dramatis personae—the stu- 
dents—lead the reader through the process of 
matriculation and of establishing themselves 
in their lodgings. One is eagerly awaiting the 
day of the fair, with the hope that he will re- 
ceive some money which his parents have sent 
in the care of amerchant. Another receives a 
letter calling him home, and must secure the 


*1Woodward, W. H. Studies in Education during the Age of 
the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1 1906), p. 162: “‘the Colloquies of 
Cordier have no little interest today as a document of historical 
value giving us, as do also the similar dialogues of Vives, direct 
insight into the school life of the time.’ 

Watson, F. The English Grammar Schools to 1660 (Cam- 
bridge, 1908), Dp. $27, 


Preface X1X 


master’s permission to withdraw. Occasion- 
ally, one oversleeps or feigns illness, morbus 
scholasticus. The poverty and wealth of 
students is discussed. Begging at the doors 
of the wealthy and singing for food are com- 
mon practices. They curse the frequent fasts, 
and look forward to feast days and weddings 
with their distributions of food. Ball-games 
and traveling shows are happy interludes in 
the routine of school-life. 

Dialogues V and IX refer to the Univer- 
sity of Leipzig. One of the characters, Ioan- 
nes, comes to the University to study Greek: 
he has heard that Duke George of Saxony 
has established a professorship of Greek there. 
The authors to be selected for the “‘next se- 
mester”’ are discussed: Cicero, Terence, Virgil, 
Aurelius, Prudentius, and Erasmus. Mosel- 
lanus takes this opportunity of expressing his 
disapproval of Apuleius, Capella, Catullus, 
Tibullus, and Martial. 

The colloquies of Erasmus, Vives, and 
Corderius have appeared in English render- 
ings, and those of Castellion are available in 
French. So far as I know, the Paedologia has 
not been translated into any modern language. 
For the present translation, I have used the 


text edited by Michel. 


PAEDOLOGIA 
PETRI MOSELLANI PROTEGENSIS 
IN USUM PUERORUM CONSCRIPTA 
HIERONYMUS 
NON SUNT CONTENENDA QUASI PARUA 
SINE QUIBUS MAGNA COSTARE NO 
POSSUNT 


LIPSIAE 
MDXVIII 


I. 


II. 


II. 


IV. 


VII. 


VIII. 


IX. 


CONTENTS 


Page 
Dedicatory epistle: Petrus Mosellanus to Ioannes 


I NNN ose 8. 1 hfites oes os 
Caspar and Mopestus. They discuss 
ng ARR Sra caer a 


Osvatpus and Micwaet. Celebrating 
a birthday, receiving money, and every- 
res Wo0d Genius: ... ee cee es 


Petrus and Pau.tus. Returning home, 
letters received from parents, and re- 
questing permission to withdraw from 
emRtnMe Derry oesr Sa) i Oeiate ava wld ase 


Petrus and Panpu.us; the MAstTer. 
Addressing the master, obtaining per- 
mission to withdraw, and giving thanks 
I ASCO ek elec ba eet 


. Marcus and Ioannes. The arrival and 


reception of new students, and the early 
mastery of the rudiments of Greek lit- 
SES CRIS HS oa eels nea reatae ders 


. Marcus, the Master, Ioannes. The 


admission of students to school...... 


IosEpHus and CLEANTHES. Convenient 
and inconvenient lodgings, and the 
poverty and wealth of students...... 


Anpreas and Puiuippus. They talk 
about the vintage and fowling....... 


Tuomas and Hieronymus. The au- 
thors to be lectured on the next semes- 


II 


14 


17 


2I 


23 
26 


. STEPHANUS and LAURENTIUS. 


. Iutzanus and DaAMIANUS. 


. Petrus and PAutwvs. 


. Martinus and VALERIUS. 


. Lucanus and STATIUS. 


for speaking of a feast day........... 


. CLEMENS and Remictus. They discuss 


the second day after the feast, which 
is Tuesday... 4c. 2). 


. BurcHarpus and ALsinus. Weddings, 


baths and distributions of meat...... 


. Sixtus and ALEXANDER. They argue 


about mental superiority............ 


. SERviIuS and Sutpicius. The morning 


bells and immoderate sleep.......... 


. Henricus and FripErRicus. Concern- 


Inf gaMes, . . isi aseceg 


Investiga- 
tions of offenses which are conducted 
in the schools on Friday, =. 134 epee 


They have a 
great desire for the feast day, and they 
talk about bathing their heads....... 


. Georcius and Conrapbus. Songs, and 


the feast of St. Martin. 226 ee 
The viola- 


tion of a fast, and the power of St. 
Catherine, patroness of studies...... 


. Hippo.ytus and Cietus. They bewail 


the discomforts of winter............ 
The feast of 


St. Nicholas, and the election of a 
bishops... 2.0... eae 


. Iacopus and Tuomas. They discuss 


various shows.’. ;. 3... Bee eee 


. Conrapus and Arcipius. They dis- 


cuss fasts. 6. 3... 0. ee 


XXIV. 
XXY. 


XXVI. 


XXVIT. 
XXVIII. 


XXIX. 
XXX. 


XXXI. 


XXXIT. 


XXXII. 


XXXIV. 
XXXV. 


Penius and Franciscus. They dis- 
cuss the Christmas holiday.......... 


Brutus and Perrucius. They talk 
about the coming in of the New Year, 
aie about sending gifts............. 


VaLerius and Nicoraus. They dis- 
cuss the carrying of candles at the 
feast of the Blessed Virgin........... 


FasiaAnus and Franciscus. They talk 
about the Christian bacchanalia..... 


Vitus and Severus. Concerning fast- 
ing and confession, as they are called 


MARCELLUS and ANTONIUS.......... 


Pau.us and Lucas. They discuss the 
communion of the saints............ 


Ursanus and Kuiranus. They talk 
about the purification of the city and 
re es ie ie i a 


Leopo.tpus and Severus. They talk 
about presentations of comedies and 
Meek, ae Swe sos sta 


Basitius and Grecorius. They talk 
about wearing a crown, and various 
Brees that Sort fs. es hn edie eo 
RapHAEL and Servatius. They talk 
about the feast of St. Urban......... 
CornE.ius and Guiietmus. They talk 
about the pleasures and drawbacks of 
MROCOIS GEASONG 0 coed b's wh lev ees 


LE Ey Cn ae A eee oe 


Appendix 


nea Cee a we we a ee. 8's, & Ca OF SW ES OG Oe 6 8) OES 


60 


DEDICATORY EPISTLE 


Petrus MoseELianus To IOANNES 
PoLIANDRUS, 
MASTER OF THE SCHOOL oF St. THOMAS 
AT LEIPZIG 


You know, John,! from an experience of 
many years in these matters, with what 
difficulty and how slowly tender youth at- 
tains to an imitation of ancient Latin. Since, 
after the elements of grammar, the tender 
mental powers are immediately forced to 
Latin speech, and with no method shown 
them, it happens that, in their endeavor to 
do, in one way or another, what they are 
ordered, they invent for themselves a certain 
new manner of speaking which is wholly 
barbarous, and which has in it some traces 
of the vernacular. This imperfection early 
impressed on their uncultivated and, there- 
fore, very tenacious minds cannot later be 
effaced in any way. It seems that not only 
the Germans, but also the Italians, who 
desire to appear to us better versed in this 
respect, are just as impure and inept in their 
daily speech. You see, indeed, that many of 
those who use the Latin tongue today speak 


1Poliander was master of St. Thomas’ School from 1 518 to 
1522, 


2 Renaissance Student Life 


nothing but their own native language and 
an unadulterated infusion of the Roman 
usage, so that Quintilian, a writer of the most 
unaffected eloquence, seems to have written 
in vain concerning extempore speech.” What 
shall be said of the fact that this evil detracts 
from the success of a more mature period of 
life? Otherwise, why are they blamed in 
the opinion of Quintilian and Gellius for 
learning late in life, except that, in their 
speech, they have not been accustomed to 
the best from childhood?* All the obstacles 
they meet in authors they sweep together in 
their usage, without regard to choice, so 
that their whole speech is not their own and 
born in their native land, but, collected in 
mendicant fashion from various writers, as 
a beggar might from door to door, cannot but 
be offensive to men of nice discernment. 
When you were considering these things no 
less keenly than seriously, and you held noth- 
ing to be more important than the improve- 
ment of the uncultivated and sequacious 
minds of the youth entrusted to your care, 
you often pleaded with me to put together 


2Institutio oratoria, X, vii. Bonnell, E., editor. M@. Fabii 
Quintiliani Institutionis Oratoriae (Leipzig, 1854. 2 vols. in I.), 
II, pp. 182-187. 

Sabuadeic Institutio oratoria, I, xii (Bonnell edition, 
op. cit., pp. §§-58.) Noctes Atticae, XI, vii, 3. Hertz, M. 4. Gellit 
Noctium Atticarum, Libri xx (Leipzig, 1886. 2 vols.), II, p. 39. 


Dedicatory Epistle 3 


some forms for conversation which would be 
suitable to this age.* For a long time, as you 
know, I have been reluctant; and occupied 
with more important matters, I scorned the 
work, very useful no doubt, but in appearance 
humble and almost unworthy; and, since I 
have had no experience in diversions of this 
sort, I should have difficulty in playing the 
part appropriately. Indeed, I saw that, to 
produce a successful work of this kind, it 
would be necessary to become a child again, 
and, as Horace says, play “odd and even,”’ 
and ride a hobby-horse.’ But since you 
continued to request it, and since you who 
are well versed in the habits of youth, prom- 
ised to help if anything were lacking in this 
matter, I decided to suffer any calumny 


Cf. Juan Luis Vives’ dedication of his Linguae latinae 
exercitatio to Philip, son of Charles V: ‘‘Very great are the uses 
of the Latin language both for speaking and thinking rightly. 
For that language is as it were the treasure-house of all erudi- 
tion, since men of great and outstanding minds have written on 
every branch of knowledge in the Latin speech. Nor can any- 
one attain to the knowledge of these subjects except by first 
learning Latin. For which reason I shall not grudge, though 
engaged in the pursuit of higher researches, to set myself to 
help forward to some degree the elementary studies of youth. 
I have, in these Dialogues, written a first book of practice in 
speaking the Latin language as suitable as possible, I trust, to 
boys.” Watson, F., translator. Tudor School-Boy Life (Lon- 
don, 1908), p. xxi. 

5Sermones, II, iii, 248. Macleane, A. J., editor. Quinti 
Horatii Flacci Opera Omnia (London, 1894), p. 484. See also 
Grasberger, L. Erziehung und Unterricht im klassischen Alter- 
thum (Wurzburg, 1864-81. 3 vols.), I, pp. 143-45. 


4 Renaissance Student Life 


whatever, rather than refuse you, a friend 
who loved me sincerely and besought me 
discreetly, or, in my modesty, withhold longer 
a common benefit to youth. Now, if there 
is anyone who thinks it unworthy for these 
trifles, as they seem at first, to have been 
written in sheer waste of paper, let him, for 
a time, put off the man, return to the boy, and 
reflect upon the time when he first began to 
learn the use of the Latin idiom. I think he 
will see at once how easily and with hardly 
any difficulty this immature age could be led, 
by means of such narratives, as if by a kind 
of stairway, to the style of Terence and the 
ease of Cicero. Who would have stood it, 
and who would not instantly hiss me from 
the stage, if from the mouth of a juvenile 
character I should utter the gloomy wisdom 
of an old man?’ However, there are certain 


6Cf. Sébastien Castellion’s dedication of the Dialogi sacri 
to Maturinus Corderius: ‘‘Do you remember, dear Maturinus, 
how often we have groaned together over the fact that there 
was no book which could lead children by degrees from the 
reading of the most elementary authors to the most difficult?” 
(Watson, F. The Eng. Gram. Schools to 1660, op. cit., p. 338.) 

7Erasmus, ‘“‘Concerning the profitableness of colloquies,” in 
Bailey, N. The Colloquies of Erasmus (London, 1878. 2 vols.), 
II, pp. 357-58: “I thought meet to allure tender Youth with 
Inticements of this Sort, who are more easily attracted with 
those Things that are pleasant than those that are serious, or 
the most exact... And if anyone shall cry out, that it is an 
unseemly Thing for an old Man to sport himself thus childishly; 
I care not how childishly it be, so it be but profitably ...I 
cannot tell that any Thing is learned with better Success than 


Dedicatory Epistle 5 


things scattered through our nonsense which 
seem to introduce serious matters, so much so 
that I shall hardly be safe from those who play 
the role of Aristarchus.’ But, unmindful of 
this, I have preferred to sprinkle, now and 
then, over the dignified parts, a few little 
things, which if the teachers read carefully to 
their students, would obviate their dislike of 
study, and at the same time restore the habits 
of youth to Christian rule. I wished to dedi- 
cate these labors to you, Poliander, since you 
have been my adviser and helper in these 
writings; may you also vouchsafe to protect 
this little book, such as it is, with your elo- 
quence, authority, and favor. If, from this 
publication, no praise, or only very slight 
praise returns to you, the inspirer, or to me, 
the author, we may console ourselves with 
the reflection that, from no desire for popular 
favor, but rather with piety and simplicity, 
we have completed our undertaking, you by 
encouraging, I by writing, since we desired 
to benefit some, at least to harm none. Fare- 
well. Leipzig, the feast of St. Matthew the 
Apostle, MDXVIII. 


what is learned by playing: and this is in Truth a very harmless 
Sort of Fraud, to trick a Person into his own Profit. Physicians 
are commended for cheating their Patients after this Manner.” 

*Aristarchus of Samothrace (2nd century, B.c.), “the great- 
est critic of antiquity,” claimed that many of Homer’s verses 
were spurious. 


DIALOGUE I 
CASPAR AND MODESTUS 


Tuey Discuss THE FAIR 


Caspar. Well, Modestus, how many days 
off is the fair, for which foreign merchants 
frequently come here? 


Mopestus. If I am not mistaken, fourteen 
days, for | am counting them hour by hour, 
‘since there is no time in the whole year to 
which I look forward more eagerly than to 
the fair. 


Caspar. Quite rightly, since the fair some- 
times brings us news, sometimes letters, and 
sometimes money which is more welcome 
than all the letters. But if the next fair does 
not bring me some money, I shall not be 
able to remain here longer, for | am dead 


broke.? 


Mopestus. Money, eh? I know well enough 
that I shall not receive any. However, when 
I left home, my father promised to send me 
some cloth for a winter coat. 


lplane exhausto. 

It was a common practice for parents to send money and 
letters by merchants attending the fairs in school- and university- 
towns. 


fi 


ait meat with more incneee we gs | 
aa little difficulty, ward off the hardships 


Re severe winter. sea 


Dialogue If 9 
DIALOGUE II 
OSVALDUS AND MICHAEL 


CELEBRATING A BirTHDAY, RECEIVING 
Money, AND EVERYONE’S 
Goop GENIUS 


Osvatpus. Aren’t you celebrating your birth- 
day today, and entertaining us, your friends, 
at a spread? Don’t you know that today is 
sacred to St. Michael whose name you bear?! 


MicuHaet. I know it, but how am I to do so, 
since I haven’t the money with which to buy 
food, or give a spread? 


Osvatpus. Didn’t your parents send any 
money to the fair for you?? 


MicHaeEv. Of course they did, but until the 
fair ends I can’t get anything "from the mer- 
chant. He merely gave me letters He says 
that, in such a confusion, there is no time for 
counting out money. Otherwise, I should not 
merely celebrate my birthday with a spread, 
but I should also, with some special gaiety, 


1St. Michael’s Day, Sept. 2 
2Cf. Manuale scholarium lisechals translation, op. cit.), 
Ch. XII, pp. 69-70. 


IO Renaissance Student Life 


please my good genius, which we call our 
guardian angel.? 


OsvaLpus. Well, we are aptly excused by 
Terence: they say “‘as we can,’ when “as 
we desire” is impossible.* 


Ssed et genio bono, quem angelicum dicimus, Psi ls aliqua 
hilaritate gratificarer. Recalls the ancient belief that everyone 
had a good and a bad genius. One’s good genius might be called 
one’s guardian angel. See Wissowa, G. Religion und Kultus 
der Rémer (Munich, 1912), pp. 175-76. 

4Andria, IV, v, 10: “Ut quimus, aiunt, quando ut uolumus 
non licet.” Tyrrell, R. Y., editor. P. Terenti Afri Comoediae 
(Oxford, 1902). 


Dialogue III II 
DIALOGUE III 
PETRUS AND PAULUS 


ReturninG Home, Letrers REcEIvED From 
PARENTS, AND REQUESTING PERMISSION 
TO WITHDRAW From ScHOOL 


Petrus. Hello, Paul. 


Pau.tus. The same to you, Pete, old pal.! 
Why are you so downhearted? Ever since our 
common interests and this school have brought 
us together in friendship, you have always 
seemed to be happy and gay, so that of all 
those whom the school brought here there 
was no one who did not wish to be your 
friend. Now, I don’t know why you look 
otherwise. 


Petrus. Does it seem strange to you if I 
am sad, when something has happened that 
can seriously delay the progress of my studies? 


Pautus. What is it? It must be something 
serious that takes a conscientious youth like 
you away from his studies. 


Petrus. I'll tell you in a few words. It is 
now almost a year since, inspired by the fame of 


1Et tu, sodalium iucundissime, Petre. 
nay 5) 


12 Renaissance Student Life 


this school of ours, I came here to undertake 
the cultivation of my mind; and I had hardly 
got my bearings in my studies when letters 
are brought to me calling me home in the 
midst of my course. And what is worst of all, 
they don’t state the reasons for my return. 
Nor can I find out whether I shall be able to 


come back. 


Pau.tus. How do you know but what you 
are called home to some good fortune? 


Petrus. No good fortune could happen to 
me so great as to make me want to postpone 
my education. 


Pautus. But one must yield to one’s parents. 


Petrus. That is what troubles me, what 
takes me home. Although I haven’t enough 
money with which to get through the winter, 
nevertheless, for the sake of my studies, I 
should be willing to seek a living by begging 
from door to door. 


Pautus. Before you go, perhaps never to 
return, shall we not have a party? 


Petrus. Should I indulge in feasting? I have 
hardly time to collect a bundle of my be- 

longings. I am going to the master right now, 
to ask for permission to leave. As soon as I 
get it, and receive certain letters from my 


i» * 


Dialogue [II 13 


countrymen, which they will give me for 
their parents, I shall begin my journey. So, 
good-bye, Paul, remember me to our friends. 
When you have time, send me some news 
about the progress of your studies and the 
way things are going at school. 


Pautus. I'll do so, Pete, and gladly; but 
listen, you... 


Petrus. What is it? 


Pau.us. I wish you would give my best 
regards to your fellow-countrymen, whose 
companionship we enjoyed while they were 
here. 


Petrus. All right, I will. 


14 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE IV 


PETRUS AND PANDULUS; 
THE MASTER 


ADDRESSING THE MAstTER, OBTAINING PER- 
MISSION TO WITHDRAW, AND GIVING 
THANKS TO THE MASTER 


PanpuLus. Who are you who knock so hard 
on my door? Pete, was it you who knocked? 


Petrus. Yes, I knocked. 


Panpu.us. By what right do you ask ad- 
mittance? Is that the way to address a 
master?! 


Petrus. Yes. If he is at home, I have some 
business with him. 


Panpu.us. He is at home, but wait a little 
until I tell you whether he has time to listen 
to you.—Master, some student is waiting 
outside, who, if you find it convenient, desires 
to speak with you about something. 


Master. Who is there? 
Panpu.us. He'll be right in now. 


Petrus. Good morning, sir. I am called 
home by urgent letters from my parents, and 


Dialogue IV 15 


if I were not recalled, lack of money and 
clothing would force me to go home. I give 
everlasting thanks to you, most honored 
master, because you so kindly saw fit to 
admit me to your instruction, and then be- 
cause I have been a student in your school, 
and have striven faithfully and carefully to 
improve in letters and good habits. Since, 
as I have said, I can stay here no longer, I 
beg, as humbly as I can, that you may grant 
me permission to depart, with that same 
favor that you have shown me thus far. If 
it meets with your favor, I shall start on my 
journey tomorrow at daybreak. 


Master. If I have done anything that has 
been worthy of thanks, earnest youth, accept 
it all as part of my duty as preceptor. Since 
you are called away by certain letters from 
your parents, go, with my permission, and 
wherever your parents call you, or wherever 
your own counsel calls you, may good luck 
go with you. 


Petrus. But there, where I am going, haven’t 
you some friends to whom you desire to write? 
I shall gladly take any message you wish 
conveyed. 


Master. I haven’t any; and although I 
should have, there would not be time for me 


| to write, occupied as t amis at prese 
| other business. As far as letters are co 
; take up your journey as soon as a 
4 venient. 


Petrus. Good-bye. 


Dialogue V 17 
DIALOGUE V 
MARCUS AND IOANNES 


THE ARRIVAL AND ReEcEPTION oF NEw 
STUDENTS, AND THE EARLY MASTERY OF THE 
RuDIMENTS OF GREEK LITERATURE 


Marcus. Where do you come from, John? 
What is your purpose in coming here to us? 
I don’t suppose you come here on account of 
this school, when you couldn’t be persuaded 
by my letters or by those of others.} 


Ioannes. On the contrary, I am here for 
that very reason. 


Marcus. However that may be, I am glad 
you have come to us, old pal.” Your coming 
has been desired not only by me, but by all 
who know you. But tell me what it is that 
finally enticed you here. 


IoanneEs. Do you want to know? 
Marcus. Yes. 


Toannes. Listen. When I first began, as a 
youngster, with little serious thought, to hear 
the master read the Latin authors, we came 


1The dialogue refers to the University of Leipzig. 
*festivissimum sodalem. 


18 Renaissance Student Life 


upon some Greek word from time to time. 
At this point, the master thought he had 
performed his duty acceptably if, in passing, 
he so much as reminded us that it was Greek, 
just as if a foreign word were of no importance 
to us.’ I don’t know how that struck other 
hearers, but I thought this: if these matters 
are of no concern to us, so that when they 
are known they do not make a man learned, 
or when unknown make him out to be igno- 


rant, why not completely erase them from the 


books as blemishes? Then I wondered at the 
scrupulousness of almost all the old writers 
who not only learned all these foreign trifles, 
but scattered them in their books like blots. 
Finally, although to disagree with the teacher 
was a serious matter, when I heard that 
there were many serious men who studied 
and taught these trifles, I began little by little 
to ponder the matter to see what I should 
believe, whether my master were erring on 
account of ignorance, or all antiquity at the 
same time and the best students of modern 
times were indulging in childish folly. And 
so, uncertain about this and doubtful as to 
which side I should take, it happened that 
the instructor took up the explanation of 
Marcus Tullius Cicero’s De officiis at the 


8Graecum est, non legitur is an old saying. 


Dialogue V 19 


very beginning of his lectures. In his intro- 
duction, this most learned philosopher and 
orator advises his only son to combine the 
study of Greek with Latin, so that he might 
be equally versed in these languages. When 
I perceived this, in spite of the teacher’s 
hiding it from me, I began to grieve greatly 
that the opportunity of becoming acquainted 
with these writings was denied us, which 
studies, if useless, the Roman consul would 
not have praised nor, as a wise father, have 
imposed upon his only son. 


Marcus. Now I see what you are getting at. 


JoanneEs. Wait, you haven’t heard the whole 
story. When I was considering these things 
half in anger, behold the rumor breaks out 
among us that, by the munificence of a prince, 
there had been brought to this most dis- 
tinguished institution of learning those who 
taught Greek publicly, and that from them 
as from a fountain something was also flowing 
into the university.’ This report, confirmed 


4De offictis, 1, 1. Baiter, J. G., and Kayser, C. L., editors. 
M., Tullii Ciceronis opera quae supersunt omnia (Leipzig, 1860-69. 
II vols.), VIII, p. 1. 

5The “prince” was Duke George of Saxony (1471-1539), 
who brought Richard Croke and Mosellanus to the University 
of Leipzig as professors of Greek. In a letter, of 1520, Erasmus 
tells Duke George that the university owes its reputation as a 
center of classical study to his munificence. (Paulsen, op. cit., 


Pp. 55.) 


20 Renaissance Student Life 


partly by letters, and partly by travelers 
from this place, excited my desire to learn 
and brought me here. Now you know why I 
came, that in this school of yours I might 
be permitted to get at least the rudiments of 
the Greek language. 


Marcus. Without doubt, your wish will be 
granted; nor could you have gone anywhere 
else with better results. Everything is pro- 
vided here. Moreover, what is more to the 
point, this school is the best equipped of any. 


IoanNEsS. Since we have talked long enough, 
you will not refuse me the service, I believe, 
of leading me to the rector of the school, as 
I am now ready to enrol immediately in my 
studies. 


Marcus. I’ll do so gladly. Come with me. 


Dialogue VI 21 
DIALOGUE VI 
MARCUS, THE MASTER, IOANNES 


THE ADMISSION OF STUDENTS 
TO SCHOOL 


Marcus. Worthy master, I am bringing to 
you one whom I have known well for a 
number of years, a good, studious fellow. He 
was influenced to come here by the reputation 
of your school. He will consider it a great 
favor if you will be so kind as to accept him. 


Master. Young man, what is your name?! 
IoanneEs. My name is John. 


Master. You have certainly drawn a lucky 
name, for it is held in favor among the He- 
brews. For that reason it is incumbent upon 
you to excel, so that you may respond ac- 
ceptably to the expectation of your name. 


IoanneEs. I’ll see to it that I do the best I 
can, and I am sure you will help me in this. 


Master. Your very appearance shows a 
purpose underneath, which does not shrink 
either from learning or from effort, so that if 


1Cf. the form of matriculation in the Manuale scholarium, 
I, 


22 Renaissance Student Life 


you will do your best, this may finally be said 
of you: virtue is more pleasing in a beautiful 
body.” So, I gladly accept you in my school, 
provided you promise to perform the duty of 
a good student. 


IoanneEs. I promise to do what is right in 
everything that you command. 


Master. So I hope, indeed. But where is 
your home, so that I may record it in this 
ledger? 


IoanneEs. Aub is my home, a town in East 
France, situated not far from Wurzburg, 
celebrated as the abode of priests. 


Master. I am satisfied. There is nothing 
more but to see that you are provided with a 
lodging-house suitable to your means and 
needs. Conduct yourself in it so that no 
discredit may come to our school. 


IoANNES. Rest assured as to that, worthy 
master; for, as is proper for a lodger, I shall 
behave most modestly. Do you wish to 
give me any other advice? 


Master. Nothing, for if there is anything 
left to be shown you, it will be said daily 
during our lectures. 


*Aeneid, V, 344: “‘Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore 
virtus.”’ Conington, J., editor. P. Vergili Maronis opera (Lon- 
don, 1881-83. 3 vols.), II, p. 363. 


Dialogue VIL ie 
DIALOGUE VII 
IOSEPHUS AND CLEANTHES 


CONVENIENT AND INCONVENIENT LODGINGS, 
AND THE POVERTY AND WEALTH OF STUDENTS 


IosEpHus. How are you getting along, Clean- 
thes? Have you found a suitable dwelling, 
or are you still wandering about without 
having located a lodging-house? 


CLEANTHES. I have found a room, but it is 
not so satisfactory as I hoped it would be, 
although there was hope that, with the aid 
of some citizen, I should obtain lodging and 
some sort of food at the same place; but it 
has turned out very differently. I have 
hardly been able to have a corner in the school 
assigned to me for the customary fee. Since 
I have so little money, I shall have to beg 
food from door to door, unless I have better 
luck later. You are lucky, Joe, because your 
parents supply freely all that is necessary for 
the convenience of a student. 


IosEpHus. Thanks to God, I have the where- 
withal to get the conveniences for myself, 
but the more numerous the conveniences 
that I have for my studies, the more worthy 
should I be of contempt if I did not learn 


24 Renaissance Student Life 


more than any of you. However, you should 
not despair over the indifferent progress of 
your studies, since it is fitting that many 
born in a humble place, and aided by no dowry 
of fortune, should rise to the height of erudi- 
tion. Was not Democritus, that natural philos- 
opher, made a philosopher from a day- 
laborer? Did not Cleanthes, whose name you 
bear, seek his daily bread by drawing water at 
night? Was he not the equal of that Stoic? 
And Plautus, during his irksome labors at 
the bakery, wrote his most excellent comedies. 


CLEANTHES. Inspired by these and other 
examples of the sort, I shall persevere in my 
studies; otherwise, I should long ago have 
taken up some manual employment. Though 
there are a great many young fellows of my 
station in life rather rotting in the schools 
than studying, with such inferior ability that 
they are wholly unfitted for the pursuit of 
learning, they seem to me to be of no other 
use in the state than to drive the other beggars 
out of the cities, while they steal bread from 
them. I should advise them to apply them- 
selves to some other pursuit. 


IosepHus. You are right, Cleanthes, for if 
all of this sort were endowed with the same 
sort of talent that you have, I should say 
that they should be encouraged in every way. 


Dialogue VII 25 


As far as you are concerned, I hope the day 
is near when your condition will be better, 
indeed that you may have all the conveniences 
for study at the home of some citizen whom 
you may sometimes serve. 


CLEANTHES. May God bring that about. 


IosepHus. May he. Do not doubt that you 
will be helped by this advice of mine. 


26 Renaissance Student Life 


DIALOGUE VIII 
ANDREAS AND PHILIPPUS 


THey TaLtkK ABOUT THE VINTAGE 
AND FOWLING 


ANDREAS. I wish we were at home now, with 
our parents, Phil. 


Puitippus. Why so? 


ANDREAS. Do you ask? This is the time of 
the vintage. There is nothing more delightful 
in our country in the whole year. 


Puitippus. What do I hear? Do you wish 
to be a vine-dresser and a cultivator of letters 
at the same time? 


AnpDrEAS. For the sake of a little sport we 
would pick grapes, and try the must from the 
vat; nor would I like to be away longer than 
for the must in the vat to work and foam off; 
in addition to this, we would boil down the 
juice, the must and the dregs of the old wine. 
And what about the fun we should have 
fowling, if we should catch birds, sometimes 
with snares, sometimes with springes, and 
sometimes even with twigs smeared with 
bird-lime. 


Dialogue VIII a7 


Puitippus. Without doubt. Let your parents 
do these things. If you are wise, you will 
attend to your studies. 


AnpreEAs. But I have heard that great men 
have sought diversion in rustic pleasures of 
this sort. 


Puitippus. True, these things may be per- 
mitted to great men, but not to us, who have 
not yet gone beyond the rudiments. 


ANDREAS. You always criticize the things I 
care about, just like a teacher. 


Puitippus. That is up to you; do as you 
please. You will not have me as a companion 
in your folly. 


28 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE IX 
THOMAS AND HIERONYMUS 


Tue AUTHORS TO BE LECTURED ON THE NEXT 
SEMESTER 


Tuomas. Why do you come here, Jerry, and 
where have you been?! 


Hieronymus. I am coming from the precep- 
tor who is next to the rector in rank. 


Tuomas. Well, what did he say about the 
authors to be lectured on this semester? I 
suppose they have chosen them by now. 


Hieronymus. Indeed they have and wisely, 
I hear. Besides the rudiments of both lan- 
guages to be taught together according to 
Quintilian’s treatise,? they have, in the first 
place, chosen Terence’s comedies to be ex- 
plained, because this writer alone among the 
Latins retains the native and genuine style 
of Roman speech, so much so that not even 
Cicero, that great orator, was ashamed to 
model his orations after his example;*® next 


1Dialogue IX refers to the University of Leipzig. 
*Institutio oratoria, 1, 1, 12-14 (Bonnell edition, op. cit., 


p. 8.) 
8E pistola ad Atticum, VII, iii, 10 (Baiter and Kayser edition, 
op. cit., X, p. 164.) 


Dialogue IX 29 


Cicero’s De officiis, since this book not only 
adorns language with eloquence, but also 
gives instruction in correct living, from which, 
in the opinion of Pliny, one should not merely 
read, but learn verbatim.* Lastly, a few 
books of Virgil’s poem will be expounded, 
doubtless in order that this fine poet, as 
Augustine says, fixed in youthful minds, may 
remain throughout all life.6 In addition to 
these things, since it is not fitting that Chris- 
tians should be all wrapt up in pagan books 
in these days when we are celebrating feasts, 
we should also hear the most splendid and 
solemn hymns of Aurelius Prudentius,® that 
grave and saintly man, or if they are not 
satisfactory, the Enchiridion militis Christiani 
of Erasmus Roterodamus studiously com- 
mented on.’ If, as I hope, the instructors 
explain these things carefully, as is their duty, 
and we listen to them equally attentively, I 
do not think that this semester will have been 
badly employed by us. 


‘Historia naturalis, 1, Praefatio, 22. Mayhoff, C., editor. 
C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae (Leipzig, 1906-1909. 2 vols.), 


p. 7. 

De civitate Dei, 1, 3: ‘‘Nempe apud Virgilium, quem propterea 
parvuli legunt, ut videlicet poeta magnus omniumque praeclarissimus 
atque optimus teneris ebtbitus animis non facile oblivione possit 
=e ae J. P., editor. Patrologiae cursus completus, 

10, 

8A writer of the fourth century who contributed much to 
the hymnology of the church. 

7Published 1503. 


30 Renaissance Student Life 


Tuomas. Not unjustly do they praise this 
choice, Jerry; for I have never been satisfied 
with the custom of those men who neglect 
these and other excellent writers of their kind, 
and waste their good hours in Apuleius, 
Capella and his sort, which writers, not 
content with Ciceronian eloquence, have 
found for themselves a new manner of speak- 
ing, just as if it were not the greatest vice of 
speech to be averse to common usage.® For 
those who, disregarding the selection, teach 
authors like Catullus, Tibullus and Martial, 
and through this teach their students strange 
and absurd errors, it seems to me ought to be 
restrained not with words but with flogging.® 
They are the kind of poets who Plato thinks 
should be driven from his republic.4® But I 
do not say these things from my own judg- 
ment, for I have heard the most learned and 


8Apuleius (2nd century), known especially for his Apologia, 
Florida, and Metamorphoses. Martianus Minucius Felix 
Capella (sth century), author of De nuptiis Philologiae et Mer- 
curii, a treatise on the liberal arts. 

§Catullus, Tibullus and Martial were too “modern” for 
Mosellanus. 

10The Republic, Il: “And therefore when any of these 
pantomimic gentlemen, who are so clever that they can imitate 
anything, comes to us, and makes a proposal to exhibit himself 
and his poetry, we will fall down and worship him as a sweet 
and holy and wonderful being; but we must also inform him that 
in our State such as he are not permitted to exist; the law will 
not allow them.” Jowett, B., translator. The Republic of Plato 
(Oxford, 1888), p. 83. 


Dialogue IX 31 


at the same time the most unprejudiced men 
so decide. 


Hieronymus. But the rector has done the 
right thing: he permits nothing of this sort 
to creep into his school. I am going now to 
a bookseller to purchase the books I have 
mentioned. 


Tuomas. At what price may these be pur- 
chased? 


Hieronymus. I haven’t priced them yet; I 
think for one gold piece, although I heard 
someone say twenty-four silver pieces. 


Tuomas. It is lucky that they do not cost 
more; otherwise, my condition is such that I 
haven’t enough to purchase them. 


Hieronymus. Well, Let’s go. 


Tuomas. Whenever you wish; I won’t stop 
you. 


44 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE X 
STEPHANUS AND LAURENTIUS 


ForMS FOR SPEAKING OF A 
Feast Day 


STEPHANUS. Who do they say is going to 
preach to the people in our church today, 
Larry? 


Laurentius. I hear that one of the monks 
is to appear in the pupit. 


STEPHANUS. I wonder that no outstanding 
preacher has been brought here for this 
occasion, since a great mob of people is 
crowding into the church today, because a 
certain celebrant, who has lately received 
priestly orders, will officiate for the first time. 


LaurRENTIUS. It seems strange to me, too, 
although as far as I am concerned, I should 
wish the sermon to be as short as possible. 
For I am terribly hungry, having been fasting 
now for two days. In these days, when we 
abstain from meat, I never leave the table 
fully satisfied. 


STEPHANUS. Your longing for food must be 
checked for two hours more, for in addition 
to the high mass which takes an hour, you 


re P 
a ee Pee, ee as - 


ee ee ne ee ee, ee ee eT 


Dialogue X 33 


know how much time the choir takes, which 
even our songs, prolix beyond measure, hardly 
exceed in length. 


LavurentTius. A curse on those who invented 
these things for us! For myself, as soon as 
the ceremony is over, I shall go speedily to 
the doors of the rich so that, if not among the 
first, I shall at least be among the second or 
third to receive a handout.? 


STEPHANUS. But you'll hardly get there be- 
fore I do. 


Laurentius. The consequences will prove 
that. 


Istipem. 


34 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XI 
CLEMENS AND REMIGIUS 


Tuey Discuss THE SEconD Day AFTER THE 
Feast, WHICH 1s TUESDAY 


CLemens. Woe to us, Remigius! We have 
slept beyond the limit. Even now the sun 
shines brightly everywhere, so that one may 
guess that the signal for the seventh hour 
has been given. 


Remicius. No, J think the sky is merely 
clearer than usual, although I have often 
paid penalties on this day for my sleepiness. 


CLEMENS. However that may be, I am afraid 
of the rod for myself; so, Ill think over 
another excuse by which I may be able to 
escape from my studies today. 


Remicius. What one? 


CLEMENS. You know, don’t you, what our 
landlady asked of us yesterday? 


Remicius. Yes, to help her servants draw 
water. But what about it? 


Ciemens. This loop-hole will be large enough 
to slip through; for which reason it will be 
up to you, when the stroke of eight is heard, 


me, 


Dialogue XI nes 


to come into school as if from the midst of 
your labors, and urgently request, from the 
preceptors, permission to go out, the reason 
being the one that I have suggested. 


Remictius. Since this is the day on which a 
magnificent funeral is to be conducted, and a 
sacrifice made to the shades of the dead, I 
fear that our scheme will hardly be successful; 
and anyhow there are a few here already 
getting the procession ready.! 


CLEMENS. However the thing turns out, it 
must be attempted. I don’t know why on 
this day it is always so hard to go to school, 
not less so than if I had to go back into some 
drudgery. I believe that a sense of leisure 
remaining from yesterday makes me so reluc- 
tant. 


1Jt was customary for the schools to provide choirs for 
funerals. See Koldewey, op. cit., I, pp. Ixxiv-lxxv. 


36 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XII 
BURCHARDUS AND ALBINUS 


WeEppINGS, BaTHs, AND DIsTRIBUTIONS 
oF MEAT 


Burcuarpus. They say there is to be a 
wedding today. Have you heard anything 
about it, Albin? 


Ausinus. I have. 


Burcuarpbus. We must see that we get some 
food from this wedding. 


A.pinus. As to food, I have no worries 
about it, for yesterday I provided for myself 
the wherewithal to spend the day comfortably; 
but I am sorry that I cannot see the dancing 
in the theater after the feast. 


BurcuArpus. What prevents you from seeing 
it? 

Auzsinus. Perhaps you do not know that on 
this day baths are promised us free by the 
generosity of some benefactor. Do you think 
it would be advisable to miss the baths for 
the sake of seeing the dances? 


BurcHarpbus. Say, if you had not reminded 
me, I should have forgotten it entirely, and 


Dialogue XIT a 


should not have remembered the distribution 
of meat which is a custom on this day. May 
the bride and groom prosper in their nuptials. 
Let us attend to the things that concern us. 


38 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XIII 
SIXTUS AND ALEXANDER 
THEY ARGUE ABouT MENTAL SUPERIORITY 


Sixtus. You are lucky, Alex, for your mind 
is as fertile as it is keen. 


ALEXANDER. I haven’t a mind altogether 
cursed, thank God, but still not so keen as 
you think. It happens, I don’t know how, 
that we are never satisfied with what is ours; 
we look up to the things of others. 


Sixtus. And you, as I hear, long for some- 
thing else. 


ALEXANDER. Why not? Since I think my 
memory utterly lax and not tenacious enough; 
for although I easily comprehend the things 
that are taught, I do not retain what I have 
learned without great effort. 


Sixtus. On the contrary, I comprehend with 
difficulty, but what I learn I retain for a very 
long time; and, as I see it, you have an 
impressionable mind, while mine is like rock. 
You easily impress anything on wax, but all 
trace of the impression immediately vanishes; 
but what is engraved with some labor on 
rock remains carved for many centuries. 


Dialogue XIII 39 


ALEXANDER. You make an accurate com- 
parison, but it disturbs me that you see a 
great many people of all kinds endowed with 
fertile minds, but on the other hand of such 
unseemly conduct that you may properly say 
that their minds are poorly housed. 


Sixtus. I believe that to be an old saying, 
and to have been said a long time ago of 
Galba, a man so misshapen as to be a monster. 


ALEXANDER. Very rightly, nor have I turned 
inaptly to that, I think. 


40 Renaissance Student Life 


DIALOGUE XIV 
SERVIUS AND SULPICIUS 


Tue Mornine BELLS, AND 
IMMODERATE SLEEP 


Servius. Why don’t you get up, Sulpicius? 
The bells have already given the last signal 
for the daybreak service, and you are not 
unaware by how great a throng this service 
is carried out, so that we shall be completely 
disgraced if we are not there in time. 


Sutpicius. I shall get up immediately, al- 
though I feel as if my head were still heavy 
with sleep. Would that I might sleep to 
satiety! Today I should like to imitate those 
Horatian youths to whom it seemed fine to 
sleep until midday.' 


Servius. But I shall not wait for you any ~ 


longer, lest this delay get me a whipping. 
I am going there now; follow when you like, 
or sleep at your peril. 


1Epistola, I, ii, 30: “cut pulchrum fuit in medios dormire 
dies.”” (Macleane edition, op. cit., p. 562.) 


Dialogue XIV 4I 


Sutpicius. I shall go with youatonce. Don’t 
be in such a hurry. 


Servius. I linger no longer; this is no place 
for joking. We shall trifle after dinner, where 
according to custom, relaxation from our 
studies is permitted. 


42 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XV 
HENRICUS AND FRIDERICUS 


CONCERNING GAMES 


Hewricus. Are you going to play ball with 
us, Fred? Or do you prefer to compete in 
the race with these fellows? 


Fripericus. I prefer to take a walk with 
some congenial friend or other. 


-Henricus. Won’t you play ball for a little 
while first? Afterwards we shall go for a 
walk with you. 


FrIDERICcuS. But I’m no good at this game, 
for I can’t throw a ball well, nor catch one 
with a sure enough hand. 


Henricus. There is nothing for you to worry 
about on that account; a little practice will 
show you well enough what to do. But if you 
refuse altogether, let us play a less difficult 
game with a little bowling-ball.? 


Fripericus. If you wish it, I don’t refuse, 
although I know I shall get nothing but the 
laughter of those looking on. Although I 


1The ancient game of bowling a ball toward a peg or hole. 


Dialogue XV 43 


repeatedly make mistakes, if I hit it at all, 
it is more by accident than by skill. 


Henricus. In this game, it is not very 
important whether you win or lose; for one’s 
life is not at stake, nor is it played for money. 


44 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XVI 
IULIANUS AND DAMIANUS 


INVESTIGATIONS OF OFFENSES WHICH ARE 
CONDUCTED IN THE SCHOOLS ON FRIDAY 


Iutianus. Ah, Damian, the day is back 
again, which I think no less unlucky and 
execrable with us than was formerly that one 
of the Romans on which, in the battle of 
Cannae, so many thousands of Romans 
were slaughtered by Hannibal.! 


Damianus. Why so? Does something evil 
threaten the school on this day? 

Iutianus. Don’t you know, you who are 
especially experienced in schools for so many 
years? 

Damianus. How can I know the customs of 
this school? I have only recently come here. 
Iutianus. Investigations are made in the 
school today, just as in some place of torture. 


Damrianus. What are you talking about? 


Iut1anus. Today each one of us is compelled 
to pay the penalty for all the offenses he has 
in any way committed during the entire week. 


1Battle of Cannae, 216 B.c. 


Dialogue XVI As 


Damianus. Can the instructors know what 
we have committed? 


Tuttanus. In some way they find out every- 
thing, so that nothing can be concealed from 
them. 


Damianus. How so? Are they skilled in 
divination? 


Iutianus. Not at all, but they find it out 
in another way, for they give this duty to a 
few secretly chosen for reporting and accusing 
us, their own comrades, so that we can’t do 
anything at all safely. It is always to be 
feared lest someone of this kind of Corycaet 
may overhear us; and be the wolf in the fable,’ 
present among us without our knowledge, to 
report to the preceptor like a hired traitor.® 


*Tupus in fabula. See Otto, A. Sprichwérter und sprich- 
wortlichen Redensarten der Romer (Leipzig, 1890), pp. 199-200. 

3School and university statutes from the fourteenth to the 
eighteenth centuries refer frequently to the appointment of 
lupi (wolves) or Corycaet, i.e., students whose duty it was to 
report those who spoke the vernacular or failed to observe the 
rules concerning conduct. The signum Latinitatis et morum is 
mentioned again and again. See Koldewey, op. cit., I, pp. Ixvii, 
Ixxviii, 108, 111, 135; II, pp. 85, 98, 615; Manuale scholarium, 
Ch. XI; Meyer, K. Die Schulordnung des Gymnasiums der freien 
Reichstadt Nordhausen am Harz vom ‘Fahre 1583, in Mitteilungen 
der Gesellschaft fiir deutsche Erziehungs- und Schulgeschichte, 
II (Berlin, 1892), pp. 71, 96, 113; Miller, J. Vor- und frithre- 
formatorische Schulordnungen, Berlin, 1885-86. 2 vols. (Samm- 
lung selten gewordener padagogischen Schriften, XII, and XIII), 
II, p. 186; Reissinger, K. Dokumente zur Geschichte der humani- 
stischen Schulen im Gebiet der Bayerischen Pfalz (Berlin, 1910-11. 


46 Renaissance Student Life 


Damianus. Perhaps this is what I hear called 
the “‘wolf,” for that is the only name fre- 
quently mentioned in the school where I was 
before. 


Iut1anus. He is that sneaky wolf for whom 
we unlucky ones have no less hatred than 
sheep which tremble in the presence of that 
same wild animal. 


Damianus. I fear lest he report us today; so 
it is up to me to plan so that, if I am guilty, 
I may either clear myself or get off with a 
slight penalty. 


2 vols. in Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica, XLVII and XLIX), 
I, pp. 118, 229, 244, 249, 310; II, p. 397. Rae ie 

“The name comes from Cape Kopuyos, in Cilicia, the in- 
habitants of which were called Kweuvyatot and who were proverbi- 
ally in antiquity Kwpuyato¢g yyeodcato; for the Corycaei were 
accustomed to spy out the cargoes and sailing-directions of the 
ships which landed at their cape, pass on this information to 
their neighbors, the Myonnesian pirates, and then plunder the 
ships in company with them. For that reason, in ancient times, 
a listener or a spy was called Korykaios, and this designation 
was applied in the sixteenth century to the spies among the 
students.” (Reissinger, op. cit., I, p. 229, n. I.) 

Corycaeus auscultavit was a Roman saying. See Strabo, 
XIV, i, 32, in Miller, C., and Diibner, F., editors. Strabonis 
geographica (Paris, 1853-77. 2 vols.), i, p. 550; and Cicero, 
Epistola ad Atticum, X, xviii (Baiter and Kayser edition, op. cit., 
X, p. 269): “From now on I shall not write to tell you what I 
am going to do, but what I have done; for all the Corycaei 
seem to listen to what I say.” 


ish 


Dialogue XVII 47 
DIALOGUE XVII 
PETRUS AND PAULUS 


TuHey Have a GREAT DESIRE FOR THE FEAST 
Day, AND Tuey Tak or BATHING 
THEIR Heaps 


Petrus. How I wish this day were over, so 
that after so many hardships of the week, and 
a two day fast besides, it may at last be 
possible to get some meat at the feast. 


Pau.us. You are very impatient, Pete, if 
you can’t wait a half day after waiting almost 
a whole year. What will you do when you 
have to abstain from meat for forty whole 
days? 


Petrus. You chide justly, but in some way 
or other the nearer the feast is, the more am 
I tormented by desire for it. Have you 
anything else tosay? I am going from here to 
the barber-shop, to have my head treated 
with a lotion. 


Pautus. I, too, should have my head washed 
if I could pay the barber’s fee for the lotion; 
but I have only a farthing. 


Petrus. It is enough. I myself do not bathe 
very often, although occasionally I indulge 


48 Renaissance Student Life 


in these extravagances. I hardly bathe six 
times in the course of the year. 


Pautus. But you frequently wash the dirt 
from your head. They say that by cleansing 
the body, the mind is rendered more brilliant 
as well as purer. 


Petrus. They say that, because they place 


the seat of knowledge in the head, namely in 
the abode of reason. Let’s go quickly, then. 


Pautus. Whenever you please. 


Dialogue XVIII 49 
DIALOGUE XVIII 
GEORGIUS AND CONRADUS 


SONGS, AND THE FEAstT oF St. MARTIN 


Georcius. Come, Conrad, with what song 
shall we collect our handouts this winter? 
In this city, it is the custom for several stu- 
dents in a group to entertain with vocal com- 
positions at the banquets of the rich. 


Conrapus. That will be for you to find out, 
for you have skill in things musical, and are 
better acquainted with this school than I. 


Georaius. Since you delegate this care to 
me, I shall think up something that is not too 
common. But do you know what is generally 
done a week from today? 


Conrapbus. What? 


Georcius. The preliminary feast of St. Mar- 
tin will be then.? 


Conrapus. What then? 


Georcius. Then there is an abundant harvest 
for us students, since on the evening of that 


1The feast of St. Martin (of Tours), Nov. II, was a joyous 
occasion. 


5° Renaissance Studen | 


day not only are edibles given" us more 
ally, according to custom, but we also rec 
from door to door the alms given to the nee 


Conrapus. That suits me pretty wel 
I hope to scrape together enough to en 
me to get through the winter more col 
fortably. 


Dialogue XIX SI 
DIALOGUE XIX 
MARTINUS AND VALERIUS 


THE VIOLATION OF A FAST, AND THE 
Power or St. CATHERINE, 
PATRONESS OF STUDIES 


Martinus. What are you doing, foulest of 
al] ?? 


Va.erius. Why are you so angry with me? 
I’ve done nothing but eat my breakfast. Do 
you consider breakfast a crime? 


Martinus. As if it were not a serious offense 
in a Christian to violate the sanctity of a 
fast! 


VaLerius. Is a fast appointed for today? 
Tell me, in whose name? 


Martinus. Impious one, don’t you know 
that the feast of St. Catherine, patroness of 
the arts, must be observed ?? 


Vaterius. But I had not considered that 
the day before a feast was sacred by an 
ordinance of the church. 


19uid agis, omnium impurissime? The reader familiar with 
student colloquialisms may prefer another rendering. 

2Feast of St. Catherine (of Alexandria), Nov. 25. St. Cath- 
erine was a patroness of studies. 


ao: Renaissance Student Life 


Martinus. What then? Custom is received 
as law, and although it may not be a custom 
for us, however, who pursue learning, over 
which this virgin presides, this day has been 
established as a most sacred fast. 


VaLerius. I shall fast then, following this 
hearty breakfast; and I shall not even hope 
for an elaborate luncheon, and, as I hear said 
commonly, to feed badly twice during the 
day is as good as a fast. However, to speak 
frankly with you, I have always thought that 
Christ was the true patron of learning, since 
he is frequently celebrated in the name of 
wisdom in church services. 


Martinus. You are trying to introduce some 
novelties. But I prefer to walk in the path 
common to all. 


VALERIUS. You haven’t heard that saying of 
Pythagoras: do not walk in the common path. 


Martinus. Youarea nuisance. Go your way, 
I'll go mine. 


Dialogue XX §3 
: DIALOGUE XX 
HIPPOLYTUS AND CLETUS 
THey BrewaiL THE Discomrorts or WINTER 


Hipprotytus. O how happy are they who are 
rich enough to sit at home by the fireplace, or 
in a heated winter-residence. 


Cietus. How unhappy are we in so many 
respects, miserable ones, who, with no furs, 
on the contrary provided with almost no 
clothing against the hardship of cold, are com- 
pelled to seek food from door to door in the 
midst of rain, snow and ice! But this bit from 
Horace comforts me: 

“He who would reach the goal and win 

the race 

Toiled much, bore much in youth from 

heat and cold, 

Abstained from love and wine... 
If our end should be like theirs in other 
respects, there would be no reason why I 
should not call God unjust who administers 
human affairs so unfairly. 


71 


Hippotytus. Be silent! Do not utter any- 
thing blasphemous against God! 


14rs. poetica, 412-14. (Macleane edition, op. cit., p. 728.) 


54 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXI 
LUCANUS AND STATIUS 


Tue Feast or St. NICHOLAS, AND THE 
ELECTION OF A BIsHOP 


Statius. What news do you bring us, Luke? 


Lucanus. Nothing, but I am calling on you 
so that we may discuss matters of common 
interest. 


Statius. Your arrival is pleasing to me. Sit 
down here with us. 


Lucanus. Thank you, I shall. Do you know 
what is usually done among our people at the 
feast of St. Nicholas? 


Statius. How could I know? I’ve never been 
there. 


Lucanus. Then I shall tell you in a few 
words: those who attend school there choose 
someone of their own group as bishop, by 
order of the rector, and conduct him to his 
lodgings with great pomp, and at the ap- 
pointed time lead him into the church.’ 


1In many places the election of the boy-bishop took place 
on St. Nicholas’ Day, Dec. 6. Some schools celebrated St. 
Gregory’s Day in this fashion. ‘‘He hath put down the mighty 


Dialogue XXI Re 


Statius. What advantages does this new, and 
fictitious bishop enjoy? 


Lucanus. I don’t know unless it is followed 
by a banquet provided at the expense of some- 
one whose name is unknown to me, and very 
elaborately carried out. 


STatius. And meantime, while he is in that 
office, is he exempt from studying, or is he, 
like others, subject to discipline? 


Lucanus. Exactly in the same way, since he 
is no more a bishop than are those kings who 
play the characters of Agamemnon and Priam 
in tragedies. 


Statius. I should not desire any such honor 
for myself. 


from their seats, and hath exalted the humble and the meek.” 
School-statutes prohibiting the practice indicate that the 
“humble and the meek” often abused their temporary privi- 
leges. See Koldewey, op. cit., 1, pp. xxxii-xxxiv, 9-13; and Specht, 
Op. cit., pp. 225-29. 


56 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXII 
IACOBUS AND THOMAS 
Tuey Discuss Various SHows 
Iacopus. What have you heard is going to 


happen tomorrow? 


Tuomas. Nothing, except what is accustomed 
to be done on other occasions. 


ITacosus. Nothing in the way of shows? 


Tuomas. Nothing at all. Have any been 
announced? 


Iacopus. Various things are announced. | 
hear that there are to be two rope-walkers, 
who will display the wonder of their skill 
tomorrow. Then I have seen some Russians 
who, for a small fee, will exhibit huge bears 
dancing to the sounds of trumpets. 


Tuomas. I shall devise some way of being 
there, even if I have to sneak in. 


Iacosus. You will hardly be able to, since 
those who do not pay are kicked out. 


Tuomas. I’]l trick the gateman. 


Iacosus. In addition, the leader himself will 
exhibit, in the arena, several pairs of horse- 


Dialogue XXII $7 


men who will engage each other in combat 
with pointed lances. After this, the same 
horsemen armed from head to foot, whom 
they call cataphracts, will march around.! 
These, in troops, without any order or plan, 
will rush together and throw each other from 
their horses in an exchange of blows. The 
circus, which is fenced all around, is strewn 
with manure lest those who fall be seriously 
injured. 


Tuomas. What pleasure do they get out of 
such a furious and unpleasant combat? 


Iacopus. What? There are no splendors 
which they do not despise for this pleasure, 
especially because by this sham battle they 
are prepared and inspired, as it were, for 
serious combats with the enemy. 


Tuomas. Whenever it may be, I shall be 
present to see how it is done. 


1quos cataphractos vocant, i.e., mailed-ones. 


58 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXIII 
CONRADUS AND AEGIDIUS 
Tuey Discuss Fasts 


Conrapus. May the devil take those, who- 
ever they are, who fill up almost the whole 
year with fasts. It is not even enough for 
them to be in a continuous fast for the forty 
days dedicated to Christ, unless in addition 
they torment us a few days in each quarter 
of the year. The week to be spent in fasting 
is at hand again. But if a dinner were pre- 
pared for me with such sumptuousness as 
for those who introduced these fasts, I should 
not take them so seriously. Now when I 
satisfy my wrinkled stomach hardly once in the 
whole year, Iam tormented besides with fasts. 


Arcipius. Why are you so angry, Conrad, 
against the holy fathers of the church? They 
have instituted all these things for a good 
purpose, not for us who are not tempted to 
commit these offenses because of our age, 
and cannot because of our poverty, but for 
people like themselves who are rich and 
voluptuous. 


ConrapDus. How do you know these things? 
AercipIus. Last year I heard it from a certain 


‘ 


Dialogue X XIII $9 


preacher who said that long and immoderate 
‘fasts greatly displeased St. Jerome in his 
youth, although he was a zealous exactor of 
fasts. Lest, as he wrote, the feet should fail 
before they begin to run, only so much fasting 
is to be imposed as we are able to bear.? 


Conravus. I am grateful to St. Jerome, who 
protects us poor and unwillingly hungry ones. 


1E pistola ad Nepotianum: ““Modum in jejuniis.—Tantum 
tibi jejuniorum modum impone, quantum ferre potes.” (Migne, 
J. P. Patrologiae cursus completus, XXII, p. 537.) See also 
Epistola ad Laetam: “‘Displicent mihi in teneris maxime aetatibus, 
longa et immoderata jejunia.” (Migne, Patrol., XXII, p. 875.) 


60 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXIV 
PENIUS AND FRANCISCUS 
Tuey Discuss THE Curistmas HOLIDAY 


Penius. I am glad and sorry, Frank, that 
the feast of the Nativity is approaching. I 
am glad because this feast brings all kinds of 
joyous and festive things with it; I am sorry, 
on the other hand, because there is exhausting 
labor for us students in the solemn chants to 
be learned for this celebration. Besides, it is 
cold every day in the church. Lastly, I fear 
that if detained by too deep a sleep, I neglect 
the morning service, I should bring punish- 
ment upon myself. 


Franciscus. What you say is true; however, 
since we accept this mode of life, we must be 
vigilant and do everything well: for we have 
endured even worse things than these. God 
will put an end to these things also, so that 
I may be at leisure to retire from these labors 
of ours into the cultivation of piety. 


Penius. We certainly should be more com- 
pletely spoiled by indulgence if we did not 
put up with so much annoyance for Christ 
himself, for whose sake so many infants were 
subjected to the cruel swords of barbarous 


Dialogue XXIV 61 


soldiers; the memory of which is associated 
with this feast.? 


Franciscus. But I’d like to know why it is 
that the priests serve wine from a consecrated 
cup in the popular feast of St. John.? 


Penius. I don’t know, except that I have 
heard that this cup serves as an antidote to 
the dangers of poison. 


Franciscus. As for me, I don’t care to drink 
hemlock with such confidence, even if this cup 
is sacred, as you say. 


1Feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28. See Matthew, II, 16. 
2Feast of St. John (the Younger), Dec. 27. 


62 Renaissance Student Life 


DIALOGUE XXV 
BRUTUS AND PETRUCIUS 


Tuey TaLk Apout THE CominG IN OF THE 
New YEAR, AND ABOUT SENDING GIFTS 


Brutus. I wish you a prosperous and happy 
New Year, Petrucius. 


Pretrucius. And to repay you with interest, 
I hope that not only this year which is now 
beginning, but all the rest of life may be 
blessed for you. 


Brutus. However, I should prefer to have 
you give me a little present rather than this 
magnificent and solemn wish. 


Petrucius. But what gifts can Petrucius 
give, who, except for a few books, has nothing 
at allt 


Brutus. You may give me a book, since it 
is highly fitting that a man devoted to letters 
should also make a gift of letters. 


Petrucius. In the generosity of my affection 
for you, I would make the expenditure, but 
if you are at all my friend, you will not urge 
me. 


Dialogue XXV_ 63 


Brutus. I was joking with you, and I 
wanted to find out how you felt toward me, 
since I do not value these customs highly 
myself, as I have often heard that they were 
bequeathed to us by the heathen. I have 
heard that it is like this: in certain regions of 
the Christian world, on the day before this 
feast, which is sacred to the Three Magi, they 
elect individual kings in every home. It 
appears that, up to the present time, all 
these things have been derived from the 
saturnalia of the pagans. 


PreTrucius. Since you have mentioned the 
Three Magi, I wish that wherever you either 
hear or read about it, you would explain to 
me, first what it means; because some call 
those rich men kings, others call them Magi, 
which latter I thought was said only of en- 
chanters and sleight-of-hand performers, for, 
as you know, we use both in the service; next, 
why this feast is called by the Greek word 
Epiphany.! 


Brutus. I shall tell you what I have heard 
about these things partly from the preceptor, 
and partly from a preacher last year. In the 
first place, the Chaldeans do not, as is popu- 
larly supposed, give to magicians the name 


léxtpauta. 


64 Renaissance Student Life 


Magi, but to learned men well versed in the 
mysteries of nature; their profession is indeed 
called natural magic by some Latins, but 
since this subject, not content with its own 
proper field, in the passage of time has 
degenerated into a curious demonology, the 
appellation of a most honorable profession 
has begun to be disgraceful. However, be- 
cause they were called kings in the prophecy 
of the psalm, it is not to be accepted that 
they are kings today, that is so many pos- 
sessors of power; but in some way they exercise 
magisterial authority and are removed from 
the mass of the common people. And so 
Hesiod calls corrupt judges and lawyers 
“‘oift-devouring kings.’’? Besides, among the 
old Greek theologians like Gregory Nazianzen, 
I hear that this feast of the Nativity used to 
be called Epiphany*® because God appeared 
as man in it. I think the reason why they 
celebrate the feast of the Magi in this name is 
that the star appeared to them as a guide. 
You know what IJ have heard concerning this 
matter. If you desire more, ask the more 
learned. 


*Babiréas Bwpogayouc. See Opera et dies, 261-62. Lehrs, 
F, S3 editor. Hestodi Carmina... Graece et latine (Paris, 1878), 
p. 30. a 
SExtyauta. See Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio, xxxvili, In 
Theophania sive Natalitia Salvatoris. (Migne, Patrol., Series 
graeca, XXXVI, 310-12). 


Dialogue XXVI 65 
DIALOGUE XXVI 
VALERIUS AND NICOLAUS 


TuHey Discuss THE CARRYING OF CANDLES 
AT THE FEAST OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 


Va.erius. Why haven’t you a candle, Nick?! 


Nicotaus. How should J have any? I haven’t 
even money enough to buy food. If I were at 
home among my own people, my mother 
would prepare some trifles of this sort for me. 


Va.erius. Do you dare to call these sacred 
things trifles? 


Nico.taus. Why not? Nor should I immedi- 
ately become a heretic even if I do not carry 
a candle, especially since I haven’t the means 
with which to buy one; for I should think it 
would be much more pleasing to Christ if the 
expense which we incur in the purchase of 
candles were diverted to the use of the poor. 


VaLeERius. But this is a praiseworthy custom. 


Nicotaus. It is, to be sure, but not to the 
extent that on account of it better and greater 
Christian obligations ought to be neglected. 


1Feast of the Blessed Virgin, Feb. 2. 


66 Renatssance Student Life 


VALERIUS. You are right, for I myself have 
often laughed at the simple piety of little 
women who, by placing thirty-six candles 
before the cross every day, are satisfied that 
they are thus deserving of heaven, no matter 
how much the poor suffer hunger in the 
streets. 


Dialogue XXVIII 67 
DIALOGUE XXVII 
FABIANUS AND FRANCISCUS 


THEY TALK ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN 
BACCHANALIA 


FapraAnus. What is the reason, Frank, that 
you didn’t come to school yesterday? 


Franciscus. I had such a pain in my head 
that I couldn’t endure the light. 


FapiaANus. You excuse your ailment well, 
since it is already an old story that if students 
shrink from the fatigue of study or fear the 
rod, they allege illness as an excuse for their 
laziness, so that now-a-days scholastic-illness 
has become a saying for pretense and deceit.' 


Franciscus. I don’t know what others do; 
certainly, as far as I am concerned, I would 
rather suffer the rod ten times than have that 
pain again, although I haven’t yet entirely 
recovered. But how do you happen to be 


'scholasticus morbus.. Cf. Manuale scholarium, Ch. XVI: 
““Cam. The dog-days are near at hand; I feel it in my head. 
“Bar. In what way do you feel it? 

“Cam. Because I’m getting a loathing for study. 

“Bar. — all days are dog-days for you. 


“Bar. Because you seldom have any desire for study.” 


68 Renaissance Student Life 


here with impunity? Isn’t this the hour for 
listening to the preceptor? 


Fasianus. It is, but the preceptor gave us a 
three days’ recess on account of these imita- 
tion bacchanalia of the Christians; he gave 
orders, with a heavy penalty assigned. if 
anyone did not obey, that no one in imitation 
of the handicraftsmen, should run about the 
streets disguised in a mask, since this folly 
is disgraceful in all good people, especially 
Christians.? 


Franciscus. I’ve had a mask ready at home 
for a long time, for this purpose. 


Fapianus. Take care what you do, for one 
must be cautious about masks. But he was 
more liberal with regard to drinking-bouts 
and public parties. 


Franciscus. I shall obey; otherwise, after 
forbidden joys, we shall weep bitterly. 


?The three days preceding Lent were given over to merry- 
making. Student excesses were the rule at this time. A Uni- 
versity of Leipzig statute of 1495 (Lidellus formularis, No. 49) 
forbids the students, tempore carnispriviali, to go about in 
masks, or carry swords, “under penalty of three florins or one 
month in prison.” (Zarncke, F., editor. Die Statutenbicher der 
Universitat Leipzig, p. 111.) 


Dialogue XXVIII 69 
DIALOGUE XXVIII 
VITUS AND SEVERUS 


ConcERNING FasTING AND CONFESSION, AS 
THEY ARE CALLED 


Virus. What does it mean, Severus, that 
you thus pace to and fro, so deeply immersed 
in thought? You appear to me to be con- 
sidering a troublesome matter. 


SEVERUS. You ask as if this very time itself 
could not tell you what I am doing. 


Virus. Do you torment yourself with fre- 
quent fasts, that you show such a face? 


SeEvERuS. Not at all, but I am trying to 
recall those things which I, irreligious and 
ungrateful, have committed against God my 
maker and deliverer. This is the time when 
the edict of the church demands that we 
‘diligently pour forth our sins into the safe 
ears of the priests, so that having been taught 
by them concerning the doctrine of sin, that 
is, both the serious and the unimportant, we 
may live more circumspectly hereafter. 


Vitus. I, quite indifferent, haven’t even 
once given thought to a matter of such im- 
portance. 


70 Renaissance Student Life 


SEVERuS. You are no better on that account. 
For we must have done with this duty early, 
so that, freed from this burden of confessing 
our sins, than which nothing is more weighty, 
we may more freely participate in the feast of 
St. Gregory the patron of studies.! 


Virus. But what, after all, is done in this 
feast? 


SEVERUS. Since, as I have said, this saint is 
supposed to preside over studies, boys who 
desire to spend their lives in learning, give 
their names, on this day, into this service of 
ours, under favorable auspices, as they hope. 


Virus. When will this feast take place? 
SEVERUS. Ten days from now, I believe. 


Virus. Since you recommend it, I myself 
shall seek the sacred oracle, as some very 
learned men call it, into whose bosom I shall 
pour out my sins. 


SEvERuS. If you like, the opportunity shall 
be given of approaching him whom I myself 
have found diligent time and again. 


1The feast of St. Gregory (Pope Gregory I), March 12, was 
an occasion for merry-making. St. Gregory was a patron of 
studies. 


Dialogue XXVIII 71 


Vitus. But I prefer some indolent one, whom 
I shall be able to cheat without much effort 
in some of my sins. 


SEVERuS. That is not acting like a Christian, 
but like a fox. However, you'll see. 


ie Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXIXx 
MARCELLUS AND ANTONIUS 


MarceE.tus. Salutations, Tony. 
Antonius. The same to you, Marcellus. 


Marcetitus. Why are you running around 
so? Whom are you looking for? 


Antonius. I am looking for someone who 
will go into the country with me, and be my 
companion in begging for eggs, as is the 
custom. 


Marce.ius. But that’s an improper and 
unbecoming habit for one who devotes him- 
self to study. What could be more degrading 
than to wander about the wretched huts of 
the peasants for the sake of a dozen eggs, and 
in the meantime miss the lectures at home? 


Antonius. But how shall I appease my 
hunger if I may not seek food anywhere? 


Marcetuius. Here in the city you will be 
able to get all that is necessary; you might 
manage to live a few days on the kindness 
of those people by whose benefactions you 
get food for the whole year. 


NIUS. Yall you, you "re mistaken; you : 
serious that I don’t wish to > have ath io ee 


74 Renatssance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXX 
PAULUS AND LUCAS 
Tuey Discuss THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS 


PauLus. Come, Luke, let us purge ourselves 
in every way, and with the broom of re- 
pentance cleanse ourselves from all the base- 
ness of sin, lest with dirty hands we approach 
the table of that great prince who can destroy 
us with a nod, and receive that heavenly and 
wonderful bread with unclean mouth and 
spirit even, concerning which the rector 
yesterday discoursed so piously and fruitfully. 


Lucas. I shall strive for this to the best of 
my ability. But, what did the preceptor say 
about this mystery? I did not go. 


Pautus. Miserable one, who neglects such 
things! 


Lucas. Busy elsewhere, I could not be pre- 
sent; so, I earnestly entreat you not to be- 
grudge me something so beneficial. 


Pau.us. He said that there was such great 
virtue in this marvelous food that those who 
take part in this ceremony are made one body 
and one spirit with Christ, and so they are 
transformed into God the son of God; but if 


Dialogue XXX 75 


any unclean one touches it, he does not 
experience benefit, but utter destruction of 
soul. He exhorted us all, therefore, sinners 
that we are, to pass these days on the cross 
with Christ, in order that more happily and 
with a sincerer joy we might pass into eternal 
life with Him. This he said was signified by 
this approaching feast, that the Hebrew 
Passover celebrates the passing over from the 
death of sins to the life of virtue. 


Lucas. In the meantime, what becomes of 
the cakes and other good things which they 
have been accustomed to prepare for this 
feast, which is near at hand? Haven’t you 
heard anything about them? 


Pau.tus. Away with you! Your mind is now 
on cakes, when at this very time, many years 
ago, Christ was in peril of his life. They will 
give a word in its place to cakes and other 
inducements of this sort; now, we should be 
solicitous about other food. 


76 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXXI 
URBANUS AND KILIANUS 


THEY TALK ABOUT THE PURIFICATION OF THE 
City AND FIELDS 


Ursanus. Why is it, Kilian, that they clean 
all the streets and by-ways with such great 
pains? Is some personage coming here? 


Kittanus. No, but something will take place 
tomorrow for which this preparation is fitting- 
ly made. 


Ursanus. What is it, by the way? 


Kit1anus. Tomorrow is the appointed day 
for the city to celebrate Corpus Christi, when 
the bishop here bears the most sacred host 
around the city walls, with all the priests 
and the entire population following at his 
heels.? 


Ursanus. Perhaps there will be public cere- 
monies which some not inappropriately call 
amburbialta.* 


1A Nurnberg school-statute of 1343 required the students 
to participate: ““Am suntag post corporis Christi sullen sie mit 
der procession gen.” Miller, J. Vor- und frithreformatorische 
Schulordnungen, op. cit., II, p. 19. 

24mburbialia, the festival of blessing and purifying the city, 
held on Feb. 2. A procession of the people, led by the clergy, 


Dialogue XX XI 77 


Kittanus. There will be. 


Ursanus. But when are the ambarvalia con- 
ducted?* That is what they are called which 
were known as Rodigalia and Palilia among 
the pagans.‘ 


Kittanus. Day after tomorrow. 


Ursanus. Shall we be permitted to be 
present at these ceremonies? 


Kirtanus. Certainly, and also the entire 
order of the clergy. 


Ursanus. But among our people, the farmers 
ride about the fields on horse, preceded by 
the offering. 


Kiiranus. Each region has its own custom 
which is taken as law. 


three times around the city. See Wissowa, G. Religion und 
Kultus der Romer (Munich, 1912), pp. 101, 142. 

8Ambarvalia, the festival of blessing the fields, held on 
May 29. The various orders of the clergy lead the people three 
times around the fields. See Wissowa, op. cit., pp. IOI, 143, 562. 

4Robigalia, the festival held on April 25 in honor of Rodigus 
who protected corn from blight (rodigo). See Wissowa, op. cit., 
pp. IOI, n. 5, 196. 

Palilia, the festival held on April 21 in honor of Pales, 
deity of shepherds. See Wissowa, op. cit., pp. 199-200. 


78 Renaissance Student Life 


DIALOGUE XXXII 
LEOPOLDUS AND SEVERUS 


Tuey TALK ABout PRESENTATIONS OF 
COMEDIES AND TRAGEDIES 


Lreopotpus. Do you know, Severus, what 
spectacles are usually produced tomorrow, 
which is a week from the most sacred festival 
of Corpus Christi? 


Severus. How do I know, since I was not 
here last year? 


Leopotpus. But you could have heard from 
others. 


SEVERUS. I am not accustomed to make 
much inquiry about the things that do not 
concern me. But, tell me, what are you 
talking about?! 


Leopotpus. Actors present a tragedy of the 
sufferings which Christ the Savior endured 
for our sake.! Several have been chosen for it. 


Severus. Are all the parts taken? 


Leopotpus. All, every one. 


1The Passion Play. 


Dialogue XX XII 79 


SEVERUS. As for me, I prefer to act the part 
of the most hardened soldier or executioner 
rather than that of Christ; for although, as 
I infer, the thing will be fictitiously presented, 
nevertheless it will be impossible to prevent 
it, but the one who acts the part of Christ is 
compelled to receive many injuries. 


Leopo.tpus. I would rather be a spectator 
in this play than an actor, if dangerous things 
occur at times. 


80 Renaissance Student Life 


DIALOGUE XXXIII 
BASILIUS AND GREGORIUS 


THey TaLtxk Axsout WEARING A Crown, 
AND Various THINGS OF THAT Sort 


Basitius. Where are you going in such a 
hurry, Gregory? And where did you get 
that crown of roses? 


Grecorius. I am coming from the market, 
Basil, where I purchased this garland for a 
farthing. 


Basitius. For what purpose? 


Grecorius. It is my intention to wear this 
crown on my head. Doesn’t it seem cheap to 
you that so many roses can be obtained for 
one little coin? 


Basitius. Aren’t you ashamed, you great 
ass, to walk about publicly crowned in the 
manner of boys? 


Grecorius. Why should I be ashamed? The 
great by birth, and even gray-haired men 
wear it. 


Basitius. Then they are no longer great; 
perhaps they have borrowed that custom 


Dialogue XX XIII 81 


from the effeminate Greeks, whom I have 
heard were called “the long haired ones” by 
Homer.! 


Grecortius. I don’t know where they got it; 
but I do know what they wear. 


Basitius. Do they wear roses only, while 
you intertwine at the same time violets and 
lilies with even rosemary and marjoram? 


Grecorius. They combine appropriately 
flowers and ornaments of all sorts. 


Basitius. Let them do as they like; I don’t 
care at all for these trifles; much less would I 
spend any money on them. Even if I had 

lenty of money, I should prefer to buy fresh 
Kier: this would serve as food, while as for 
garlands, if you make an exception of the 
fragrance, there is certainly no use in them. 


tyaenxopdwutac. See the Iliad, II, lines 51, 65, 3235 443, 
472: “the Achaians with long-flowing hair.” Munro, 
Allen, T. W., editors. Homeri fae (London, 1902. 5 Pk he is 


82 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXXIV 
RAPHAEL AND SERVATIUS 


THEY TALK ABOUT THE FEAST OF ST. URBAN 


RapHaEL. Would that I were permitted to 
have wings, to fly away home from here! 
For, I greatly desire to spend tomorrow at 
home. I should not refuse to purchase that 
ability at a high price. 


SERVATIUS. What does this mean? Do you 
desire, by divesting yourself of your human 
character, to degenerate into a speechless 
bird? What has happened recently that de- 
mands such a sudden flight of you? 


RapHaEL. Do you ask? Don’t you know 
that tomorrow the feast of St. Urban will be 
celebrated ?! 


Servatius. I know it, but what of it? 


RapHAEL. Among us they worship this saint 
with almost the same customs and ceremonies 
with which formerly the pagans worshipped 
Bacchus, so that what were Bacchanalia with 
them, with us are almost Urbanalia. 


1Feast of St. Urban (Pope Urban I), May 25. 


Dialogue XXXIV 83 


ServatTius. But for what purpose do Chris- 
tians do these things? 


RapHAEL. They think that when the saint 
is thus propitiated, grapes grow more abun- 
dantly. 


SERVATIUS. O stupid men, who think them- 
selves deserving of the favor of the saints by 
drinking-bouts and intoxication, when they 
may please God the ruler by abstinence and 
sobriety! 


84 Renaissance Student Life 
DIALOGUE XXXV 
CORNELIUS AND GULIELMUS 


THEY TALK ABOUT THE PLEASURES AND 
DRAWBACKS OF VARIOUS SEASONS 


CorneE.ius. Nothing is always favorable in 
every respect. 


GuLieELMus. What are you annoyed about, 
Cornelius? 


CornELius. Am I not justly annoyed who 
find myself exposed to so many misfortunes 
in this dirty world? 


Gu.LieLMus. Why is it that you can complain 
more than everybody else, unless perchance 
you are calling poverty to account? 


CornELius. Just as if that is the only mis- 
fortune, although it is bad enough. I believe 
you can’t help seeing that there is nothing 
that is not a misfortune. We are shattered 
by the cold of winter; now heat, or the fury 
of the dog-days tortures one. Meanwhile, 
because of the high price of provisions and 
our poverty, we labor in hunger and thirst; 
for a time I pass over in silence the flies and 
gnats that fly about us and suck our blood; 
at night we wage war against bed-bugs and 


Dialogue XX XV 85 


fleas. In addition, now lightning flashes, now 
thunderbolts and now thunder terrify us 
miserable ones. Soon, autumn will pour forth 
many kinds of maladies, sometimes the plague, 
most pestilential of all diseases. Add that 
at this favorable season, many of our crowd, 
since they are foolish and wish to bathe in 
cold water, lose their lives in the rapid and 
deep streams. 


Guuie_mus. Ungrateful to nature, you sum 
up accurately the inconveniences which the 
summer months bring with them, but you do 
not mention the advantages which they offer 
at the same time. 


Corne.ius. What are they? 


GuLietmus. Do you ask? First, there is not 
much need of fire or clothing; then, this season 
provides so many kinds of produce: winter- 
wheat, wheat, barley, many legumes, beans, 
peas, vetches, many fruits: pears, plums, 
medlars, nuts, walnuts, hazel-nuts, chestnuts, 
wines, above all the very sweet must. Do 
these gifts of summer and autumn seem small 
to your To me, you seem to be of that crowd 
of whom Seneca has aptly said: “No one 
writes down his gifts in a ledger.’’? Finally, 


1De beneficiis, I, ii, 3. Haase, F., editor. L. Annaet Senecae 
Opera (Leipzig, 1865-71. 3 vols.), II, p. 3. 


ete ouly 


it is ever to be considera aa God. 
author of nature, was pleased that in 
world there should be nothing alt 
satisfactory to man, in order tl at Ww 
aspire to that other fatherland mir 


quiet of this world. 


ets ey 2 


# 


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Cuase, W. J., translator. The Distichs of Cato. Madi- 
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Sciences and History, No. 7.) 

————, translator. The Ars Minor of Donatus. 
Madison, Wis., 1926. (ldid, No. 11.) 

[Cicero.] See Baiter and Kayser. 

Conincton, J., editor. P. Vergili Maronis opera. 
London, 1881-83. 3 vols. 

[CorpErRtus.] See Avellanus. 

Dapetson, H. von. Die Péadagogik Melanchthons. 
Strassburg, 1878. 

[Donatus.] See Chase, and Keil. 

[Eptstolae obscurorum virorum.| See Stokes. 

[Erasmus.] See Bailey, Nichols, and Scott. 


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Fapricius, W. Die dltesten gedruckten Quellen zur 
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schrift fiir Bicherfreunde, Jg. 1 (Leipzig, 1897-98), 
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Fow er, W. W. The Roman Festivals of the Period of 
the Republic. London, 1899. 

Gem, S.H. Ax Anglo-Saxon Abbot, Aelfric of Eynsham. 
(Edinburgh, 1912), pp. 183-195 (“A colloquy for 
exercising boys in speaking Latin; first compiled 
by Aelfric, and added to by Aelfric Bata, his 
disciple.’’) 

Goetz, G., editor. Dositheus Magister. Colloquium 
scholicum Harleianum. Jena, 1892. 

, editor. Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana in 
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GRASBERGER, L. Erziehung und Unterricht im klas- 
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311ff. 

Haass, F., editor. L. Annaei Senecae Opera. Leipzig, 
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Hartrevver, K. Philipp Melanchthon als Praeceptor 
Germaniae. Berlin, 1889. (Monumenta Germaniae 
Paedagogica, VII.) 

Hertz, M., editor. 4. Gellit Noctium Atticarum, 
Libri XX. Leipzig, 1886. 2 vols. 

[Hestop.] See Lehrs. 

Hirze1r, R. Der Dialog. Ein literarhistorischer Ver- 
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[Homer.] See Monro and Allen. 

[Horace.] See Macleane. 


go Renaissance Student Life 


Jaun, O. Griechische Bilderchroniken. Bonn, 1873. 

JANSSEN, J. Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem 
Ausgang des Miittelalters. Freiburg im Breisgau, 
1882-94. 8 vols. 

Jerome. Epistola ad Nepotianum. (Migne, J. P., 
editor. Patrologiae cursus completus, XXII.) 

———. Epistola ad Laetam. (Ibid., XXII.) 

Jowett, B., translator. The Republic of Plato. Ox- 
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KEIL, Car H., editor. Donati de partibus orationis 
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KoLDEWEY, F. Beitrdge zur Kirchen- und Schul- 
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——. Braunschweigische Schulordnungen von den 
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Krarrt, K., and W. Briefe und Dokumente aus der 
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1876. 

KruMBACHER, K. Geschichte der Byzantinischen Lit- 
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Reiches. Munich, 1897. (Handbuch der klassischen 
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Leurs, F. S. Hesiodi Carmina ...Graece et latine, 
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Mac teang, A. J., editor. Quinti Horatii Flacci, Opera 
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Manitius, M. Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des 
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mee TA ae 


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MassesiEAu, L. Les collogues scolaires du seiziéme 
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Meyer, K. Die Schulordnung des Gymnasiums der 
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[Mosellanus.| See Michel. 

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92 Renaissance Student Life 


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94 Renaissance Student Life 


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APPENDIX 


A SCHOOL-DIALOGUE OF THE EARLY 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY* 


It may not be inappropriate to remind the student 
of Renaissance education that the school-dialogues of 
the period occasionally appeared with vernacular 
parallels. The most familiar colloquies of the sixteenth 
century were written in Latin, the language of the 
schools. Such titles as the Colloquia familiaria of 
Erasmus (1519), the Linguae Latinae exercitatio of 
Vives (1539), and the Colloquia scholastica of Corderius 
(1564) recall the vogue enjoyed by these popular texts, 
each of which went through more than one hundred 
editions. 

The briefest of the dialogues, and the first to be 
published with a vernacular translation was the 
Collocutiones duorum puerorum de rebus puerilibus 
ad invicem loquentium.' It appeared, with a Middle 
Low German parallel, shortly after 1500, and the copy 
that has come down to us was printed as an addendum 
to a volume of Hermannus Torrentinus’ Hymni et 
sequentie.» The text follows: 


*Reprinted, with permission, from The Fournal of English 
and Germanic Philology, XXIII (April, 1924), pp. 289-293. 

1Authorship unknown. 

2Hymni et sequentie cum diligenti difficiliorum vocabulorum 
interpretatione omnibus et scholasticis et ecclesiasticis cognitu 
necessaria Hermanni Torrentini de omnibus puritatis linguae 
latine studiosis quam optime meriti: Sequuntur collocutiones duorum 
puerum (sic!). Undated, but shortly after 1500. See Bomer, A. 
Die lateinischen Schilergesprache der Humanisten (2 parts. Ber- 
lin, 1897), I, 67-69. Hermannus Torrentinus, or Hermann van 

eek, of Zwoll, one of the Brethren of the Common Life, died 

c. 1520. 


95 


96 Renaissance Student Life 


Syriscus, PETRELLUS 


. Unde venis, Petrelle? 

Pet. E templo, Syrisce. 

~ Quid illic fecisti? 

Pet. Turbinem circumegi. 

. Hoc facere in templo mi- 
nime decet. 

Pet. Id ipsum nunc vapulando 
didici. 

. Quo pacto? 

Pet. Nam alter ex aedituis me 
ludentem offendit et 
apprehensum ita pugnis 
pulsavit, ut vix ingredi 
queam. 

. Id mihi memorari quam 
monstrari malim. 

Pet. Credo equidem. 

. Nihil mihi aliud novi au- 
fers e templo? 

Pet. Morio noster Heyno in 

sacrario fecit oletum.® 

Syr. Id nasus resciscat tuus. 

Pet. Ludamus nunc iuglandi- 
bus in scrobem.4 

. Ubi Bas iuglantes nactus 
est 


Peterken, wan comstu? 

Uut die kerke. 

Wat hebstu daer ghedaen? 

Ich heb den bat ghedreven. 

Dat en beteemt niet datment 
in die kerke doe. 

Dat heb ic nu oeck mit slage 
gheleert. 

Hoe ghinc dat toe? 

Die een van den kerckmesters 
vant my spelen ende heeft 
my soe myt vusten ge- 
slaghen, dat ic nauwe ghaen 
en kan. 

Dat hoer ic seggen, dan ict my 
laet wyssen. 

Dat gelove ic sekerlic wel. 

Brendy ons anders nyet nywes 
uut die kerken? 

Heyn, onse dwaes, heeft in die 
sacristij ghedreten. 

Dat moet u noese weten. 

Laet ons nu myt walnoeten 
spelen in der kulen. 

Waer hebstu die noeten ge- 
creghen? 


®The inclusion of such items in school-dialogues was not 
unusual. They are a characteristic of these “‘faithful accounts” 


Y student-life. 


Cf. Manuale scholarium (trans. 


by Seybolt, 


F. Harvard Univ. Press, 1921), Ch. I]; and the following 


ae Murmellius’ Pappa puerorum (Bomer, 


calceos meos comminxit. 


69), 1513: “Joannes 


. Cur librum meum conspuisti?... 


Cave tibi ne tantum potes, ut lectum nostrum convomas!’’ 
4Colloquiorum Maturini Corderit Galli (ed. by Arcadius 


Avellanus, Phila. 
“D), 


» 1904), p. 135: 


Ubi sunt iuglandes tuae? 
B. Quas iuglandes memoras?  __ 
D. Quas hodie praemio accepisti. 


eee#ee#ee 


B. Comedi eas, pro merenda. 
D. Comedisti? O te miserum! Cur eas non potius ad 
ludendum conservasti? 


Appendix 97 


Pet. Emi. 

Syr. Quanti? 

Pet. Tribus placcis aut paulo 
minoris. 

Syr. Habuistine tantum pe- 
cuniae? 

Pet. Non, verum oppigneravi 
pugillares meos. 

Syr. Utinam id sciret pater 

: tuus! 

Pet. Cur id optas? 
Syr. Si resciret, ipse redimeret. 


Pet. Id mihi male verteret. 


Syr. Qui? dic, sodes. 

Pet. Nam pelle poenas pende- 
rem. 

Syr. Quid tum? Crassi pellis 
es, floccifacis verbera. 


Pet. Non magni curo, sed nunc 
pergamus ludere! 


Syr. Non libet. 
Pet. Quid tum libet? 
Syr. Crustulum cum butiro. 


Pet. Esuris semper? 


Syr. Nihil hodie  ientaculi 
sumpsi et parce meridi- 
atus sum. 


Pet. Non ergo mirum, si crus- 


tum optas pro ves- 
perna. 

Syr. At egoin cena omnia com- 
pensabo. 


Pet. Quid commedes? 
Syr. Colustrum, nam_ duas 
vaccas foetas habemus. 


Pet. Atat, campana tertiam 
sonat horam! Alio pro- 
perandum est! 

Syr. Quo, Petrelle? 


Ic heb se gecoeft. 

Hoe duyr? 

Om drie placken of een wenich 
min. 

Haddi soe veel gelts? 


Neen, mer ic heb myn scrijfta- 
fel te pande gheset. 
Och of du vader dat wiste! 


Waerom wonsschi dat? 

Vernam hy dat, hy solde se 
verlossen. 

Dat solde my qualic bekom- 
men. 

Secht, woe soe? 

Ic solt mitten velle betalen. 


Wats dan? Gy sijt soe dick- 
hudich, ghy en past op gheen 


slaghe. 
Ick en maeck daer gheen groet 
verck van, mer laet ons 


voert spelen! 

Ten lust my niet. 

Wat lust u dan? 

En brug of een stuck broets 
myt botter. 

Heb dy altijt honger? 

Ick en heb huden niet onbeten 
ende te middaghe wenich 
geten. 

Soe en ist oec gheen wonder, 
dattu een stucffs broets be- 
gheerts voor dijn vesper. 

Ick salt tavent al verhalen. 


Wat salstu eten? 

Ick sal byst eten, want wij 
hebben twe koyen, die ghe- 
calvt hebben. 

Ganz peert, die clock slaet 
drie, wij moeten op een 
ander welt! 

Waer hen, Peterken? 


98 Renaissance Student Life 


Pet. Quo nusquam magis in- Daer ick neergent noeder en 


vitus. gae. 

Syr. Ad scholamne? Waer ter scolen? 

Pet. Immo ad carcerem! Ja, ten kerker! 

Syr. Eho, quid ita? Scholam Wat ny? Hoe soe? Heyt gy 
carcerem vocas? de schoel encn kerker te 

wesen? | 

Pet. An non carcer tibi vide- Dunek u dat nyet een kerker 
tur, qua nos magister te syn, daer ons die meester 
velut in caveo clausos holt als in een holl? 
conservat? 


For the convenience of the reader who is unfamiliar 
with Latin or Middle Low German, a translation® into 
English is appended: 


Syriscus, PETRELLUS 


Syr. Where are you coming from, Petrellus? 

Pet, From church, Syriscus. 

Syr. What did you do there? 

Pet. I spun my top. 

Syr. It is by no means proper to do that in church. 

Pet. I found that out now by being flogged. 

Syr. How did that happen? 

Pet. One of the church-wardens found me playing, took hold of 
me, and hit me so hard with his fists that I can hardly 


walk. 

Syr. I'd rather be told about that than shown. 
Pet. I believe that. 

Syr. Didn’t you bring me any news from church? 
Pet. That idiot Heinie has befouled the sacristy. 
Syr. Your nose could find that out. 

Pet. Let us play with walnuts in a hole.® 

Syr. Where did you get the walnuts? 

Pet. I bought them. 

Syr. For how much? 


SByidts FOS, 

‘The Dialogues of Fuan Luis Vives, in Tudor School-Boy Life 
Nhat by Watson, F. London, 1908), p. 22: ““‘The Game o Nuts 

. Tull: Let us play at nuts, at throwing them in holes.” 


Appendix 99 


Pet. For three placques, or a little less.’ 

Syr. Did you have that much money? 

Pet. No, but I pawned my writing-tablets. 

be If your father knew this! 

et. Why do you wish that? 

Syr. If he should find it out, he would redeem them. 

Pet. That would come back to me unpleasantly. 

Syr. Why? Tell me. 

Pet. I should pay the penalties with my skin. 

Syr. What of that? You are so thick-skinned that you shouldn’t 
care a straw for beatings. 

Pet. I don’t mind them much, but now let us go to play. 

Syr. I don’t want to. 

Pet. What do you want? 

Syr. A piece of bread with butter. 

Pet, Are you always hungry? 

Syr. I haven’t had any breakfast today, and I had only a light 
luncheon. 

Pet. Then I don’t wonder that you want a piece of bread for 
supper. 

Syr. But, I shall make up for all those things at dinner. 

Pet. What will you eat? : 

Syr. Biestings, for we have two cows that have just calved.$ 

Pet. Ah! The bell is striking three o’clock! We ought to be 
hurrying to another place. 

Syr. Where, Petrellus? 

Pet. To the place where I am most unwilling to go. 

Syr. To school? 

Pet. Nay, rather to prison. 

Syr. What! How so? Do you call school a prison? 

Pet. Doesn’t it seem like a prison to you, where the master keeps 
us shut up in a pen? 


This little dialogue was designed to serve as an 
introduction to the Latin spoken in the schools. It 
was an elementary text-book, and, as in the better 


1Placci: placars, plaquars (Ducange, Glossarium ad Scrip- 
tores Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, V1, 340); Placke, eine kleine 
(flamische) Miinze (Schiller, K., and Liibben, A. Mittelnieder- 
deutsches Worterbuch, III, 334). pices 

8Biestings, beestings Re abeusay the first milk given by a 
cow after calving. 


Us oaceTEN Renate Stu ent Lif 


known colloquies of the ae the ‘mate 
reproduce actual conditions of student- 
therefore, a manual of information, i in simp 
style, for beginners. Like its more voluminou 
temporaries, it offers the student of today a gli 
certain aspects of school-life in the ae fifte n 
early sixteenth centuries. inthe 


Rr Aas SB Si et OR a 


eri 


7 


